LITR 4326 Early American Literature Research Posts 2016 (research post assignment) Research Post 1

Eric Howell

Thomas Paine: Free Thoughts Too Free for Free Thinkers

Thomas Paine and his early literary work Common Sense perhaps singlehandedly played the most influential role in the birthing of the American nation. Paine not only captivated colonial Americans’ attention but also cultivated unity amongst the people to stand as one against their oppressor. By eloquently and tactfully illustrating his passions for society while also voicing his disdain for the “necessary evil” of that which is government through the device of Common Sense, Paine can be seen as the spark that vigorously launched early American citizens into action. However, such an instrumental man is seemingly glanced over in regards to contemporary American history and other Founding Fathers of the United States when considering the effects of what Paine and Common Sense meant to the American Revolution. How then, can such a pivotal figurehead and keystone in the foundation of America and his work be condensed and belittled so much as to simply give him a nod in modern curricula in respects to the reaction and influence brought out by Paine and his pen on American history?

To magnify the importance of Paine, I began scouring research relating to his contemporaries, inquiring their feelings towards Paine and his rhetoric. Some of the more traditional Founding Fathers indeed held Thomas Paine in the highest regards, with Benjamin Franklin explaining “others can rule, many can fight, but only Paine can write for us the English tongue” (Hubbard). Another Founding Father, John Adams, expressed “I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine” (Nelson 12). Thomas Jefferson also expressed his and the American citizens’ gratitude toward Thomas Paine in a personal letter addressed to Paine, stating “…our people, my good friend, are firm and unanimous in their principles of republicanism & there is no better proof of it than that they love what you write and read it with delight” (Jefferson). Three of most recognizable names in U.S. history glorified Thomas Paine and revered him has a man who possessed a priceless gift for writing.

          However, although the Founding Fathers, in particularly Adams, acknowledge Paine as perhaps the most influential man of their time, it is done so in somewhat of a begrudgingly manner in part due to Paine’s radical religious views. Christianity as well as the religious values in which accompanied the theology, no doubt, ruled the dominant culture of the United States in this era. In an earlier work of Paine’s titled The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and of Fabulous Theology, Paine professes his discontent for the world’s major religions by informing his audience that “I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church” (Paine 352).

Paine continues on by mentioning that “all national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to [him] no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit” (Paine 353). Although Paine prefaces these remarks as simply his own opinions and he that is not attempting to condemn those who believe otherwise, it is if Paine had never explained the logic behind his reasoning. The power and weight that Paine’s words carried concerning the world’s religions insinuated an animosity among his contemporaries and audience in a way that his legacy could not shake.

Adams, the man who once stated that without Paine, Washington’s military effort would have been made in vain, maliciously turned on Paine as time passed, as well as other Founding Fathers. Essentially, Paine’s religious views, juxtaposed to other free thinkers’ views of his time, were so out of step that he was written off by his peers, and written out, or rather downplayed, in American history. The contemporaries of the American Revolution simply cast off Paine’s vital importance, stunting his legacy throughout the epochs of American history. 

Thomas Paine’s revolutionary mind was ahead of its time, a time where “free thinkers” were collectively shaping a great nation. Due to his radical opinions and the lack of logic displayed by some of the greatest minds in the fabric of America, Paine’s importance waits dimly in the shadows of other American figures, awaiting those not afraid of Paine’s truths.

Works Cited

Hubbard, Elbert. Thomas Paine. Web, 06, Mar. 2016. Retrieved from http://thomaspaine.org/aboutpaine/thomas-paine-by-elbert-hubbard.html

Jefferson, Thomas. To Thomas Paine Philadelphia 1792. Web, 06 Mar. 2016. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/thomas-jefferson/letters-of-thomas-jefferson/jefl99.php

Nelson, Craig. Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations. New York: Penguin, 2006. 12. Print.

Paine, Thomas. Common Sense, Rights of Man, And Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine. New York: Penguin, 2003. 352-353. Print.