Thomas Paine was a passionate free-thinker who put forward persuasive arguments for democracy. Being born into an era where battles for greater freedom were being fought in America and Europe gave him a ready audience for his views.
John Locke (1632-1704)
An English philosopher who believed in the 'natural right' of individuals, Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1690) presented his philosophies about the freedom of the individual, rights of liberty and property, and 'government with the consent of the governed'. He sanctioned rebellion by saying that a ruling body that goes against these natural laws should be deposed, and his ideas influenced both the American and French revolutions.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
This influential Irish statesman and philosopher was opposed to the doctrine of natural rights. He supported the American Revolution and thought the British government had been too inflexible. On the other hand, he was strongly opposed to the French Revolution, which he feared would destroy French society through mob rule. His book, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), provoked numerous responses, including Thomas Paine's Rights of Man.
1737 Thomas Paine is born in Thetford, Norfolk, on 29 January.
1753 Thomas runs away to sea.
1757 He works as a corset-maker in Norfolk and London.
1759 Thomas marries Mary Lambert.
1760 Mary dies in childbirth, with their child.
1770 The Boston Massacre. British troops fire on colonists, killing five.
1771 Paine becomes an exciseman, but is dismissed after he demands a pay increase. He marries Elizabeth Ollives.
1773 The Boston Tea Party. American rebels capture the captain of a British ship and tip its cargo of tea into the Boston Harbour.
1774 Paine's marriage is dissolved. He meets Benjamin Franklin, the American diplomat, who helps him emigrate. Paine settles in Philadelphia, working as radical journalist.
1775-1783 The American Revolution. Paine urges independence in his pamphlet Common Sense (1776), writes other influential pamphlets, and serves in the continental army. He becomes secretary to the Congress Committee on Foreign Affairs (1777-1779).
1781 He visits France, looking for aid for the American cause.
1786 Paine publishes Dissertations on Government in America.
1787 He returns to England from America.
1789 He travels to France. The French Revolution begins.
1790 Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France.
1791 Paine, back in England, publishes Part 1 of Rights of Man.
1792 Part 2 of Rights of Man is published. The books support the French Revolution and call for the overthrow of the British monarchy. Paine is indicted for treason and flees to Paris. He never returns to England. He becomes a member of the French National Convention.
1793 Paine opposes the execution of King Louis XVI and alienates Robespierre. Louis is beheaded, and Paine is arrested.
1794 Robespierre is guillotined. Paine, out of prison, publishes the anti-Christian Age of Reason Part 1.
1796 Part 2 of Age of Reason alienates many of his friends, including George Washington.
1802 Paine leaves France and returns to America where he is ostracised as a free-thinker and atheist.
1809 Thomas Paine dies in poverty in New York State. His bones are later returned to England, but their whereabouts are unknown.
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