Thomas Paine
Pamphleteer of the Revolution: Common Sense, The American Crisis, Rights of Man, The Age of Reason.
Ask Thomas Paine a question
Answers come only from his own recorded words, with every quotation checked against its source.
Who he was
Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense (January 1776), The American Crisis (1776-83), Rights of Man (1791-92) and The Age of Reason.
Common Sense attacked monarchy and hereditary succession, and Rights of Man renewed the argument against hereditary government.
Why he is at the Seat
Paine is the Seat's plainest voice on monarchy, hereditary power and the rights of man.
What we hold
- Editions
- Conway, The Writings of Thomas Paine (4 vols., 1894-96)
- Size
- About 730,000 words of his own text. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
- Coverage
- 1.2% of the 80 documents Founders Online catalogues as his. That catalogue holds only his letters that survive in the great documentary editions; our holdings are mostly outside it, so this figure says little.
Known limits
- Some late letters and attributed newspaper pieces are missing (the 1945 Foner edition is under copyright).
Questions he answers well
The questions his engine was tested on before it opened.
- Is hereditary monarchy a legitimate form of government?
Published answers
- What does a written constitution do that a government cannot?
- Should religion be a matter of the state?
- Should the poor and the old receive public support?
- What rights does each generation have to govern itself?
- Why should the colonies declare independence from Britain?
- Is hereditary monarchy a legitimate form of government?
- Is hereditary monarchy a legitimate form of government?
More in Prior Questions.