Many people know Paine as the author of Common Sense, The Crisis, and The Rights of Man. Fewer know him as an unapologetic opponent of slavery, paper money, and aristocratic privilege. Fewer still know he spent considerable time in both England and France – escaping death sentences in both countries – and finally returned to America in 1802.
Some may not realize that Thomas Paine once developed an obsession for a radical military strategy to invade England.
In Thomas Paine’s day, no idea was more accepted than the idea that the church was inextricably connected to the state. Even so, Paine argued the rigid bond between religion and state was a dire mistake for civilization.
Americans generally remember Thomas Paine as the renowned writer of Common Sense, the most persuasive and popular case for American independence from the British crown. However, many may be unaware that the radical political agitator later returned to his native Europe, where his actions led him to be sentenced to execution in both England and France.
Thomas Paine had many talents beyond writing, but the most surprising and under-appreciated was his aptitude for engineering.
In 2013, Edward Snowden’s revelations about the invasive natural of the American surveillance state raised many questions about the state secrecy, the morality of state whistleblowing, and the role of government in general. What many don’t realize, however, was that the same dynamics were also at play during the American War for Independence, where Thomas […]
