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LITR 4231 Early American
Literature Research Posts 2014 (research post assignment) Research Post 1 |
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Josh Cobb
3/26/2014
Thomas Paine: the Silenced Critic
Upon reading Thomas Paine’s contribution to the American
Revolutionary effort, it was immediately puzzling that such an impassioned and
determined character such as Paine receives very little attention in the field
of American history, outside of his most basic texts. Besides these, he is often
a neglected figure. Popular perception is convinced that it was his heretical
religious views which led to his omission from American history. After
committing to research on this mysterious character, a discovery of great
intrigue revealed itself; Paine took on a new perspective in the years following
the revolution; it would seem he had grown a distaste for America, not America
for Paine, once an adamant proponent of the flourishing American state, had
become its most reviled critic.
The most revealing document affirming this transformation can be
found in Paine’s Letter to George Washington following his release from
imprisonment in France. In this letter, Paine critiques the very principles of
the American government, i.e. the constitution, and the authoritarian elements
of the executive branch. He denounces the American constitution as an imitation
of the English equivalent and declares that “an imitation of its vices [is]
naturally to be expected.” He makes the claim that, in the construction of the
post-revolution government, the federalists had largely forgotten what Paine had
seen as the axioms of the rebellion. He saw little evidence of the Enlightenment
idealism that characterized the original fervor of revolution.
In his condemnation of the constitutional state, Paine perhaps
over-emphasizes his own role in the course of the Revolution. He even usurps
Washington’s title as the “father” of the America, declaring Washington’s
inactivity and neglect while emphasizing his own merits of spreading the
American ideology of just government throughout Europe. He condemns the Jay
Treaty, drafted in 1794, which formed a renewed alliance with Britain at the
expense of the France and the United States. Even the official U.S. government
website states that “The resulting treaty addressed few U.S. interests, and
ultimately granted Britain additional rights.” This, in Paine’s eyes, was a
display of America’s, and by proxy Washington’s, “ingratitude” toward the French
people and Paine himself for their assistance. The French, who were currently at
war with Britain, saw the treaty as a blaring insult. In the times following the
American Revolution, Paine began identifying more with the French revolution
over the American due to its hypocritical results.
In conclusion, perhaps it was Paine’s critical view of the founding
fathers and their established government that sealed his fate as the invisible
founder, and not his purely because of his radical view of institutionalized
religion. It would seem Paine took a great effort to distance himself from the
nation and its leaders whom he once glorified, and this illuminates the reason
for his vague portrayal in American history. It would seem it was not America
who turned their back on Paine, but Paine who turned his back on America.
Works Cited
Thomas Paine, Letter to George Washington,
found at
http://www.thomas-paine-friends.org/paine-thomas_letter-to-george-washington-1796-01.html
United States Government on the Jay Treaty found at
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/jay-treaty
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