This series of articles seeks to examine the character attributes of highly successful leaders, regardless of their adherence to a strong faith or moral standard. In presenting these thoughts, Leadership Ministries is not agreeing with or advocating these traits or practices, but rather presents these as ideas for discussion and development in your own leadership journey.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was an English-born Founding Father of the United States. An inventor and philosopher, he authored Common Sense, a pamphlet that was influential at the start of the American Revolution. His writings and work raising money for the Revolutionary War earned him the title of a Founding Father.

A rough start. Paine was born in Thetford, Norfolk, England. His father was a farmer and corset maker. He went to grammar school, then embarked on a number of failed businesses and careers. He married in 1759, and shortly after, his latest business collapsed. His wife was pregnant, and both she and his child died in childbirth. A lonely Thomas continued to find new jobs over the next decade—an accounting officer, a tobacco store owner—but was fired or failed. In 1772 he began writing articles on politics and Parliament. He met Benjamin Franklin in 1774, who at the time published the largest American newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin liked his writing, and suggested he emigrate to the New World colonies, which he did, nearly dying of typhoid fever on the trip over. He arrived in Philadelphia and in March 1775 became editor of Pennsylvania Magazine.[1]

Common Sense. Paine discovered his great gift in writing on political and philosophical issues. On January 10, 1776, Paine anonymously published a pamphlet setting out the case of colonial independence. Common Sense was an immediate success, selling more than 100,000 copies in three months. It’s estimated that during the American Revolution, Common Sense sold more than 500,000 copies and was read by more than two million colonists. Historian Mark Philp comments, “Written in a direct and lively style, Common Sense denounced the decaying despotisms of Europe and pilloried hereditary monarchy as an absurdity. At a time when many still hoped for reconciliation with Britain, Common Sense demonstrated to many the inevitability of separation.”[2]

Common Sense is widely considered a seminal work for the American Revolution. Philosophically, it tied Americans together in a common struggle for independence, giving the diverse group of colonists a sense of patriotism. It explained the freedoms the colonists were fighting for, and more importantly, why the fight was a worthy cause that should be supported. Paine could explain to all the thinking and benefits of independence. Though there is no direct record of Paine’s involvement in writing the Declaration of Independence, an early draft contains evidence of Paine’s writing, along with his initials on the back of the document.

A Founding Father. Paine continued to write and advocate for America throughout the Revolutionary War and afterwards. He published more popular political and philosophical pamphlets over the years, including The American Crisis (1776), Public Good (1780) and Rights of Man (1791). He traveled to France during the Revolution to raise money for the war, in the company of Benjamin Franklin. These funds helped win the war, and in 1785 he was recognized by Congress for his service the new nation. That year he was also elected to the American Philosophical Society. Paine’s writings today are widely regarded as turning public sentiment in favor of the American Revolution and independence.

Paine’s writings were always controversial. Between 1794 and 1807 he published The Age of Reason, which questioned the Bible’s authenticity and institutionalized religion. In opposing corruption of the church during that time, and Christians seeking political power, Paine rejected fundamental Christian beliefs. He promoted deism, a belief that God may have created the universe, but that the world was now governed not by Scripture, but by study and belief in science and what could be observed in nature. Deism became quite popular and much of today’s modern political and social science can be traced back to deistic teachings.

And France at the end. Paine spent his later years advocating for revolution against monarchies in France and England. He was arrested in France in 1793 for fomenting revolution, and narrowly escaped execution. In 1800 he met with Napoleon Bonaparte, who claimed he slept with a copy of Paine’s Rights of Man under his pillow. Napoleon told Paine that “a statue of gold should be erected to you in every city in the universe.”[3] Paine returned to the United States in 1802 at the invitation of Thomas Jefferson. His participation in the French revolution and his critical Letter to George Washington in 1796 had alienated Paine from American citizens and supporters. He died in 1809 at the age of 72. Upon his death The New York Evening Post wrote of him, “He had lived long, did some good, and much harm.”

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine

[2] Philip, Mark (2013). “Thomas Paine”. In Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2013 Edition). Archived from the original on January 28, 2015.

[3] O’Neill, Brendan (June 8, 2009). “Who was Thomas Paine?”. BBC. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018.

Cover photo: Public domain