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Top 10 Facts about Thomas Paine

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Top 10 Facts about Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was an influential man who achieved many accomplishments throughout his life. He was an American Revolutionary War hero. Through his numerous publications, especially the famous “Common Sense”, he helped convince many American colonists that freedom from Britain was what was best for them.

Born in England, where he was an only child to Joseph and Frances Paine, he struggled to make ends meet as a young adult. As chance would have it and at a time when Paine was looking for a new start in life; he met Benjamin Franklin who gave him reasons why he should emigrate to America. It is at this point that his life took an interesting turn. The short biography below lists interesting facts as well as famous quotes from the life of Thomas Paine.

Here are the top ten facts about Thomas Paine.

1. He arrived in America with a letter of recommendation from ben franklin.

The first half of Thomas Paine鈥檚 life was marred by setbacks and sorrow. Born and raised in Norfolk, England, his formal education consisted of a five-year stint at Thetford Grammar School which ended when he began apprenticing under his father鈥攁 stay-maker鈥攁t age 13. By the time Paine turned 38, he鈥檇 suffered the death of his first wife and child, parted ways with his second one, and had twice been dismissed from his post at the English Excise Service. But around that time, Paine was introduced to Benjamin Franklin by their mutual friend, mathematician George Lewis Scott. Franklin encouraged Paine to emigrate to the American colonies, and in 1774, Paine set sail for Philadelphia with a letter of recommendation from Franklin.

2. He wrote the first volume of The Age of Reason in prison without the aid of books (or even a copy of the Bible), critiquing the Old Testament from memory. 

The Age of Reason (1794) appears to be the first place that the phrase 鈥榝rom the sublime to the ridiculous鈥� appears, albeit not in so many words 鈥� a phrase which Napoleon (who according to some accounts slept with a copy of Paine鈥檚 Rights of Man under his pillow) would later popularise.

3. John Adams was rumoured to be the real author of common sense.

Paine is primarily remembered, at least in the U.S., for writing Common Sense. Released on January 9 or 10, 1776 (sources differ), the essay championed the idea of American independence and the establishment of a New World republic鈥攖wo subjects which, by and large, hadn鈥檛 been taken seriously in the colonies. Paine later said that the pamphlet sold anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 copies, but modern historians doubt that.

4. He (briefly) worked for the continental congress.

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Specifically, Paine was brought on board in April 1777 to serve as the organization鈥檚 Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs. Paine was paid $70 a month, and his job consisted of maintaining the committee鈥檚 records and drafting letters to American diplomats stationed overseas. But he continued to write essays in support of the revolution on the side, which got him into serious trouble when he publicly mentioned top-secret negotiations with the French. He also made some powerful enemies by accusing diplomat Silas Deane of war-profiteering. In January 1779 Congress began taking steps to remove Paine from his position, but Paine voluntarily resigned.

5. Paine鈥檚 pamphlet Common Sense remains one of the bestselling books in American publishing history. 

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In 1776 alone it is thought to have sold more than 100,000 copies. Paine鈥檚 pamphlet Common Sense argued for independence for America, and when Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he drew heavily on Paine鈥檚 work (Paine was also the first person to use the phrase 鈥楿nited States of America鈥�). John Adams would later say, 鈥榃ithout the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.鈥�

6. Paine once designed an experimental kind of bridge.

Like Franklin, Paine loved tinkering and was known to invent the occasional product (for example, a 鈥渟mokeless candle鈥�)鈥攁nd when the Revolutionary War ended, he turned the world of infrastructure upside down with an inspired new bridge design.

During the late 18th century, the average bridge was constructed mainly out of stones and wood and was typically built with half-circle arches that allowed tall ships to pass beneath them. Unfortunately, steep arches like that forced architects to steeply incline both ends of the road on top of the bridge鈥攁 major inconvenience for pedestrians and carriages. It was possible to construct a bridge with support piers in the middle of the span, but ice routinely destroyed these bridges.

7. Paine narrowly escaped execution. 

As we discuss in our book of literary and historical curiosities, The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers鈥� Journey Through Curiosities of History

, Paine fell foul of the French revolutionaries and was imprisoned in 1793 during the Reign of Terror. (It was while he was in prison that he would write The Age of Reason.) In the house where he was imprisoned, every day the gaolers would go around chalking the doors of those who had been condemned to die later that day, and the day came when it was Paine鈥檚 turn. However, since he was suffering from a fever, the guards had agreed to keep his door open to allow fresh air into his cell. As a result, the door was chalked 鈥� but on the inside. When it was later closed, the guards on duty at that time missed the chalk cross that had been marked on Paine鈥檚 cell door. He had narrowly escaped the guillotine.

8. Mr Paine moved to France in the 1790s and, of course, became involved in the French Revolution.

He did conflict with the revolutionaries and was jailed 鈥� sentenced to death (he wrote Rights of Man in jail). He was sick with a fever the day before he was scheduled to be guillotined, and the jailers left his door open. As a result, the chalk mark marking the condemned was on the inside of the door and missed by the executioners the next day.

9. He has remained a controversial figure, even in his hometown. 

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In 1964 the mayor of Thetford in Norfolk (Paine鈥檚 hometown) said he would only approve a statue of Paine if it was stamped with the words 鈥榗onvicted traitor鈥�. However, the statue was erected 鈥� without the unflattering label, and with Paine holding his book, Rights of Man, upside down (supposedly to get local people talking about Paine and his work). However, his legacy is to have been an important driving force behind the American War of Independence and the French Revolution, a pioneer of Biblical criticism in the Age of Enlightenment, and an influential champion of what we now call 鈥榟uman rights. As Paine himself put it in a letter to George Washington in 1789, 鈥楢 share in two revolutions is living to some purpose.鈥�

10. Only six people attended his funeral when he died in 1809. 

Many had abandoned him as an 鈥榓theist鈥� for his ridicule of the Bible and organized religion. To this day, nobody knows where Tom Paine鈥檚 bones lie; since it was rumoured, they were removed from his grave in the States and returned to England. He remains a much more valued figure in America than he ever has been in his home country.