Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was an English-born political writer and pamphleteer active in the American and French revolutionary eras. After work in England as a corset-maker, teacher, and excise officer, he emigrated to Philadelphia in 1774. His 1776 pamphlet 'Common Sense' and the subsequent 'American Crisis' series argued for American independence and reached a wide readership. Returning to Europe in 1787, he lived primarily in England, where he wrote and published 'Rights of Man' (Part 1, 1791; Part 2, 1792) in defense of the French Revolution, and was tried in absentia for seditious libel and outlawed in 1792. He then crossed to France, was elected to the National Convention, and was imprisoned during the Terror. In 'The Age of Reason' he set out deist views and criticized organized religion. He returned to the United States in 1802 and died in New York City.