Thomas Paine: Architect of Cooperative Individualism

A Presentation on the Life and Legacy of the 18th

Century’s Most Remarkable

Champion of Liberty

Edward J. Dodson, M.L.A.Director, School of Cooperative Individualism

www.cooperativeindividualism.org

Who was Thomas Paine?

• Born, “Thomas Pain” in Thetford, England, in 1737

• Father was a member of the Society of Friends and a staymaker by profession

• Mother was a member of the Church of England

Arrival in North America

• 1774 -- Leaves England, arriving in New York, then to Philadelphia in the fall

• 1774 – Calls on Richard Bache, Ben Franklin’s son-in-law

• 1775 – Obtains position as editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine

Paine Takes Sides

• 1775 – In conflict with his publisher, Paine leaves the Pennsylvania Magazine

• 1775 – He concludes the Colonials must separate from the British empire. In October, at the suggestion of Benjamin Rush, he begins to write a pamphlet in defense of the break with BritainBenjamin Rush

Common Sense

• Published in 1776

• 47 page pamphlet that denounced King George II as a royal brute

• Sold a half-million copies

Common Sense

• English radicals make sure their countrymen get to read Paine’s courageous pamphlet

Independence Declared, but Not Secured

• 1776 – Paine joins General Nathanael Greene as his aide-de-camp. He takes on the role of war correspondent

1776 – December – The first “crisis” paper is written and spread thru the colonies

Diplomacy

• 1781 – Paine accompanies John Laurens to France in an effort to secure French naval support and additional financial assistance

John Laurens

The Rights of Man

• 1791 – Paine’s response to Burke is completed in February and a few hundred copies are printed and sold. British authorities threaten the publisher, and all unsold copies are recalled.

More Rights of Man

• Paine asks why people form societies, then answers the question himself

… and, some believe, God

• Paine’s final years are taken over in the defense of his “deist” spiritual beliefs

• 1804 – Writes an essay critical of missionaries who used the Bible to proselytize among the indigenous peoples of North America

• 1804 on – Writes many letters and essays published in deist journals