Thomas Paine; the Power of the Pen

Dear Readers,

I hope that you enjoyed last month's treatise about the importance of academic development. October's treatise is still in the writing phase. I will release it on October 29. In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy this post, that I originally wrote about a year ago, about Thomas Paine, one of America's most prominent writers. My intent with this post is two-fold. First of all, I intend to show that even men with, what some would call, serious faults, can still teach us many good things. Second, I wish to show how powerful the written word can be.

Happy reading, I'll be back later this month.

Dallin D. Shumway

“We cannot look, however imperfectly, upon a great man without gaining something by him.”

-Thomas Carlyle

The Age of Revolution was one of blood, brotherhood, and, sadly, brutality. Thomas Paine, a born Englishman, was perhaps one of the key figures in bringing on this age as quickly as it came.

There were four revolutions/political reformations for which Paine served as a thinker, commentator, and writer. They where: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the political excitement that took place in Britain after the Revolutionary War was ended, and, to a small degree, the Haitian revolution.

This paper seeks to explore the influential work that Paine did for the American Revolution, despite his numerous shortcomings. I hope that, as he was only human, just like everyone that will read this, you will have an open heart, and be willing to look past his shortcomings, to see, and perhaps exemplify, the influence he cultivated on the minds of the American people, to bring their liberties to pass.

This paper is, from here on out, divided into 2 parts: Part 1, Paine’s faults, and seeing the greatness beyond him, and part 2, his influence on the American Revolution by -moving the cause of liberty.

Part I: In Defense of Thomas Paine, he was only a human being.

It is said of Paine, that he was an unreligious man. I wish to explain here the difference between being “unchristian,” “Bible denouncing,” and “free thinking,” and being “unreligious.” The purpose of this first section is to show that although Paine did not believe the Bible to be scripture, or believe in Jesus Christ as the savior of mankind, he was still a religious man, and had strong integrity when it came to what he did believe.

Thomas Paine was a faithful, God believer, raised by a Quaker father, and an Anglican mother. He believed in God all his life. In his early years of adulthood, while still in England, he set out at one point to become an Anglican minister. Although his publication of The Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason  would led many people to believe his denouncement of Christ’s divine Messiahship and the Bible to turn him into an atheist, Paine’s own words in the latter volume say otherwise; (taken from The Age of Reason Chapter I) “I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.”

During his final years, which were spent in the United States after about 15 years spent in France (during which he witnessed the horrors of the Reign of Terror), in the early part of 1800’s, many devout Christians, (some of which had been previous admirers of Paine) came to him on his deathbed and tried their best to dissuade the old thinker from his Deist views. However, despite all their efforts, Paine never returned to his childhood Christian faith.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines religion in these words, “The belief in a god or group of gods.” Another definition it gives is: “an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group.” According to these definitions Paine’s belief in God, which he held to all his life, he was a very religious man. He merely used philosophy to find his faith, rather then the words written in a book.

The main point I make here, is that to call Paine “unreligious” merely because he denounced any form of revelation or organized religion, is a biased statement, and in no way true of this man’s nature. Paine lived his life with a strong sense of right and wrong, and believed firmly in solid principles. He firmly believed in God as the supreme being of the universe.

Paine married twice in his life. His first wife, Mary Lambert, the love of his life, died while giving birth to their first child (the child also died). His second wife was named Elizabeth Ollive. Paine and Ollive’s love for each other (if it even existed) never grew to the same level as that of Paine and Lambert. The death of Ollive’s father (a great friend of Paine’s) and the failure of Paine’s on-the-side tobacco business (which he had inherited from Ollive’s father) brought the couple to an agreement of separation. Although they separated, they agreed never to remarry, a commitment that Paine never broke. This is evidence as to Paine’s devotion to high moral code, and commitment to himself.

A people that wish to work together for a common good, must also be a people that sees the good in one another, despite a diversity of beliefs. Now, before my readers make the assumption that I am a Unitarian, or Moral Relativist, I will explain the meaning behind the latter statement. I do not believe truth, right or wrong, or morality to be relative in any way. What I am saying is simply that there is strength in numbers, and said strength cannot be found by rejecting others because of a different set of beliefs. My readers who profess a belief in modern day miracles, the organization of religion, and the divinity of books of scripture, can still draw inspiration from the character of Tom Paine, just as I, a devout Christian have done, on the common ground of a love of God, a love of freedom, a love of truth, and earnes seeking to find that truth. Those of  you readers who profess a belief in the evolution of the world without the help of divine guidance and design, may also draw inspiration from Paine on the common ground of the love of freedom, and an earnest seeking for the highest of truth.

Part II: Paine’s Influence for Liberty in the American Colonies

Speaking of Paine’s love for liberty, I will now endeavour to enlighten my readers, and, if they are willing, to inspire them, with a brief discourse of Paine’s influence on the American Revolution. Paine’s immigration to America took place in 1774, upon the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin to leave his fallen-apart life in England, and start our anew in a place of opportunity. He set foot in Philadelphia on November 30, 1774, and was able to find employment in the form of private schooling and tutoring throughout and around the town. One afternoon, while enjoying a visit to one of his favorite Philadelphia book shops, he happened upon a man by the name of Robert Aitken. They began to talk of literary interests, leading Paine to show Aitken some of his writings (Paine had tried his hand with the pen, and done an exceptional job, more than once while in England). After looking them over, Aitken amazed Paine by offering him the editorship of the Pennsylvania Magazine. This is how Paine’s career as a writer began. He spent part of the next year writing for the magazine, and thus began his historical commentary on political/freedom philosophy. However, it wasn’t long before Paine, due to unfortunate disagreements, left the magazine, and began publishing in other places.

It was on January 10, 1776, that Paine’s most famous work, Common Sense, first appeared. Common Sense is argued by some to be the best-selling work America has ever seen.

Here is a sample of Common Sense, taken from the second paragraph;

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. WHEREFORE, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever FORM thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

It was in July of that same year, just a little over 6 months after Common Sense ‘s first publishing, that the Second Continental Congress voted to declare their independence and sovereignty from Great Britain. Before Common Sense (CS) was published, the patriot (supporters of the revolution) over tory (people loyal to Britain) ratio in the colonies was not a clear majority. CS helped to change that. Paine purposefully wrote in a language that he felt could be understood by the common people, a practice not used by all writers of the day. By writing in this language, Paine was able to sway the minds of the American people.

There are many who speculate that without Paine’s willingness to write the pamphlet, the ties between America and Britain would never have been severed. I am of the opinion that America’s independence was inevitable at some point, but Paine’s small, revolutionary pamphlet brought on our independence in God’s due time, and played a key role in bringing forth the ideas of popular sovereignty, unalienable rights, and the other ideas that the Western freedom philosophy are built on.

It was later that same year that Paine’s next great work appeared. Entitled The American Crisis (later called, The American Crisis #1), he wrote it largely in response to the colonists’ reaction to Washington’s retreat from the British Army in New York City, a battle in which Washington’s army was suffering severe losses. He wanted to rally the colonists’ spirits once again, and allow them to feel what they felt only a few months before, when independence was formally declared. Paine wanted inspire them to bond together in the cause of freedom, and have the inspiration needed not to give up.

Here is the first paragraph from The American Crisis;

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER," and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

It was words such as these: These are the times that try men’s souls..... Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered......The harder the conflict, that more glorious the triumph. And; What we obtain to cheap we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value...... That helped the Americans feel once more the spirit of determination needed to triumph in their present conflict.

Paine would go on to write 13 American Crisis Papers.

Paine was a man that moved the cause of liberty. He mastered the power of the pen, one of the strongest forces that God has given, and changed the course of history for the good.

He was a common person, just like you and me, but he didn’t let that stop him from being great. Don’t let your circumstances stop you from being great either.