1 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: On this episode. In this world, the lives of these 2 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: men are essential to understand the American form of government 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: and our ideals of liberty. The Founding Fathers all played 4 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: in the creation of the government of the United States 6 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: of America. And now the life of Thomas Paine. Although 7 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: Thomas pain is now considered an American hero, at the 8 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: time of his death, only six people attended his funeral, 9 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: and papers wrote negatively about him. He was not popular 10 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:51,519 Speaker 1: and his reputation had been destroyed. His obituary ended with quote, 11 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: he had lived long, did some good and much harm. 12 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: And yet Pain was extraordinarily important in the American Revolution 13 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: and was really very different from the Founding Fathers. As 14 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: you'll see, He's a man who had a very complicated life, 15 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,680 Speaker 1: very complicated beliefs, was deeply opposed to the British government, 16 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: and was enormously helpful to George Washington. But in the 17 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: end he was more of an opponent to order than 18 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: he was an advocate of a new order. Paine was 19 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: born on January twenty ninth, seventeen thirty seven, in the 20 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: small village of Thetford in Norfolk, England, to Joseph Payne 21 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: and Francis Cockpayne. He was an only child. His father 22 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: was a staymaker, a maker of well boned components for 23 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: women's courses. Payne attended seven years of formal education at 24 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,559 Speaker 1: the Thetford Grammar School. He left school around the age 25 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: of twelve or thirteen and began an apprenticeship with his father. 26 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: He worked the trade for six years before running away 27 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: from home to seek an adventure at sea. The first 28 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: time he tried to run away, his father stopped him. 29 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: On a November morning in seventeen fifty six, at the 30 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: age of sixteen, he attempted to join the British privateer Terrible, 31 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: but his father found him in London and talked him 32 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: out of joining the crew. Payne later wrote, quote from 33 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: this adventure, I was happily prevented by the affectionate and 34 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: moral remonstrance of a good father, who, from his own 35 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: habits of life, being of the Quaker profession, must begin 36 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: to look upon me as lost. In April seventeen fifty seven, 37 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: he joined the crew of the privateer The King of Prussia, 38 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: where he spent six months at sea. Little is known 39 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: about Paine's experience on the voyage or what he did, 40 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: because he barely mentioned it in his writings. In seventeen 41 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: fifty nine he married Mary Lambert. She and their child 42 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: died in less than a year later in childbirth. In 43 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty eight, Pain began work as an excise officer 44 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: on the Sussex coast. He was a tax collector. Pain 45 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: married Elizabeth Olive in seventeen seventy one. Pain served as 46 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: a tax collector for a short period, but in seventeen 47 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: seventy two Paine published his first piece, Quote Case of 48 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: the Officers of Excise, which he personally distributed members of Parliament, 49 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: urging them to improve wages and working conditions for England's 50 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: excise men, that is, England's tax collectors. This probably cost 51 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: him his job. Officially, the reason he was fired was 52 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: for neglecting his duties as a tax collector while going 53 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: to London to lobby for higher pay for tax collectors. 54 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: In this piece, his first real effort at public advocacy, 55 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 1: he wrote, quote an augmentation of salary sufficient to enable 56 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: them to live honestly and competently produce more good effect 57 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: than all the laws the land can enforce the generality 58 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: of such frauds, as the officers have been detected and 59 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: have appeared of a nature as remote from inherent dishonesty 60 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 1: as a temporary illness is from an incurable disease surrounded 61 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: with want, children and despair. What can the husband of 62 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: the father do? And no laws compel like nature, no 63 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: connections bind like blood. With an addition of salary, the 64 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,919 Speaker 1: excise would wear a new aspect and recover its former constitution. 65 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:36,719 Speaker 1: Languor and neglect would give place to care and cheerfulness. 66 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: Men of reputation and abilities would seek after it, and, 67 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:45,039 Speaker 1: finding a comfortable maintenance, would stick to it. The unworthy 68 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: and the incapable would be rejected, the power of superiors 69 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:53,040 Speaker 1: be re established, and laws and instructions receive new force. 70 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 1: The officers would be secured from the temptations of poverty, 71 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: and the revenue from the evils of it. Cure would 72 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: be as extensive as the complaint, and new health out 73 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: root the present corruptions. Quote pain. You can already see 74 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: in this very first pamphlet, his first effort at public advocacy. 75 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: He's already mastered the ability to write clearly. He's already 76 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: mastered the ability to present a case in an orderly 77 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: structured way. While Pain was busy lobbying, he and his 78 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: wife fell apart. In seventeen seventy four, Pain and his 79 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: wife signed a formal separation agreement. It's unclear why they 80 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: signed the separation agreement, but Pain never remarried nor have 81 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 1: any children. At some point in seventeen seventy four, it's 82 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: not clear whether this was before or after he separated 83 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: from his wife, he met Benjamin Franklin in London. Franklin 84 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: had become the lobbyist for the then province of Pennsylvania 85 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,160 Speaker 1: went to London. In fact, it was in London that 86 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: Franklin realized he'd never be accepted by the British aristocracy, 87 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: and was said that he went to London as an 88 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: Englishman and he returned as an American. But one of 89 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: the key things was that in seventeen seventy four Franklin 90 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: met Thomas Payne and Franklin advised him to emigrate to America. 91 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: He gave him a letter of introduction to bring with him, 92 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: addressed to ben Franklin's son in law, Richard Bach. Franklin 93 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: was thirty eight at the time. In the September thirtieth, 94 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy four, letter Franklin wrote, quote the bearer, mister 95 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: Thomas Paine is very well recommended to me as an ingenious, 96 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: worthy young man. He goes to Pennsylvania with a view 97 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: of settling there. I request you to give me your 98 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: best advice and countenance, as he is quite a stranger there. 99 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: If you can put him in a way of obtaining 100 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,679 Speaker 1: employment as a clerk, or assistant tutor in a school, 101 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:52,360 Speaker 1: or assistant surveyor, all of which I think him very capable, said, 102 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: he may procure a subsistence at least to him he 103 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: can make acquaintance and obtain a knowledge of the country. 104 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: You will do well and much oblige your affectionate father, 105 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: My love to Sally and the boys. Three months later, 106 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: Paine was on a ship to America, almost dying of scurvy. 107 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: After arriving in Philadelphia, Paine became the managing editor of 108 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: Philadelphia Magazine. Paine edited the magazine from February seventeen seventy 109 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: five to May seventeen seventy six. Pain was a major 110 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: contributor to the magazine, writing under the pseudonyms Amicus and Atlanticus. 111 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:35,239 Speaker 1: On January twenty fourth, seventeen seventy five, before he became 112 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: the managing editor of Philadelphia Magazine, Paine wrote his first 113 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: essay on the importance of the press. This is pain quote. 114 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: The press has not only a great influence over our 115 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: manners and morals, but contributes largely to our pleasures. And 116 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: a magazine, when properly enriched, is very conveniently calculated for 117 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: this purpose. Voluminous works weary the patients, But here we 118 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: are invited by conciseness and variety. As I have formerly 119 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: received much pleasure from perusing these kinds of publications, I 120 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: wish the present success and have no doubt of seeing 121 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: a proper diversity blended to agreeable together, so as to 122 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: furnish out an oleo worthy of the company for whom 123 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: it is designed. I consider a magazine as a kind 124 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: of bee hive, which both allures the swarm and provides 125 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: room to store their suites. Its division in cells gives 126 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: every bee a province of its own. And although they 127 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: all produce hone, I'm sorry. And although they all produce honey, 128 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: yet perhaps they differ in their taste for flowers, and 129 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: extract with great dexterity from one, then from another. Thus 130 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: we are not all philosophers, all artists, nor all poets. 131 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:51,200 Speaker 1: Thus was Pain describing his belief in the written word 132 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: and the importance of the written word. Pain was vocally 133 00:08:55,400 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: against slavery. On March eighth, seventeen seventy five, an anti 134 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: slavery essay written by Pain was published in both the 135 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,839 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania Journal and the Weekly Adviser. A few weeks later, 136 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:14,079 Speaker 1: on April fourteenth, seventeen seventy five, the first anti slavery 137 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:17,719 Speaker 1: society in America was formed in Philadelphia, with Pain as 138 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: one of the founding members. Now notice he's only been 139 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: there a very short time. Already, he's active as a citizen, 140 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: he's active as a writer. He's obviously a very engaged, 141 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: very energitic person. In his March eighth, seventeen seventy five essay, 142 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: Pain wrote, quote two Americans, that some desperate wretches should 143 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: be willing to steal enslave men by violence and murder 144 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: for gain is rather lamentable than strange, but that many civilized, 145 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: nay Christianize people should approve and be concerned in the 146 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: savage practice is surprising and still persisted, though it has 147 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: been so often proved contrary to the light of nature, 148 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,319 Speaker 1: to every principle of justice and human vanity, and even 149 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,680 Speaker 1: good policy by a succession of eminent men in several 150 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: late publications. Our traders in men and unnatural commodity must 151 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: know the wickedness of the slave trade if they attend 152 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: to reasoning or the dictates of their own heart, such 153 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: as shun and stifle. All these willfully sacrificing conscience and 154 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:25,199 Speaker 1: the character of integrity to that golden idol. So here 155 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 1: we are with Pain. Already the pamphleteer argue in favor 156 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: of freedom over slavery. But now comes the moment that 157 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: makes Pain a historic figure of the first order, and 158 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: that truly makes him one of the great leaders of 159 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 1: the American Revolution. Pain publishes Common Sense anonymously on January tenth, 160 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six, as quote by an Englishman, due to 161 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:59,079 Speaker 1: fears that it could be considered treason. Remember, you're dealing 162 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: with king, who is basically a monarch imposed by God. 163 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 1: Any direct criticism the king can be translated into treason, 164 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: into a failure to be a loyal citizen. That's why 165 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: so much of eighteenth century dialogue will refer back, for example, 166 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: to the Roman Republic, or will have some other reference point. 167 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 1: Everybody knows it's written about the present, but you can't 168 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: say it directly. So here's pain as an englishman worried 169 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 1: that if people know he wrote it, he might be 170 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: considered a traitor. And remember he's writing this in January 171 00:11:54,679 --> 00:12:01,199 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six, before the Americans have declared their independence. 172 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 1: So as an Englishman, he writes so brilliantly that in 173 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: the first three months Common Sense sold one hundred and 174 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:15,959 Speaker 1: twenty thousand copies. By the end of the revolution, five 175 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: hundred thousand copies were sold. Since the estimated population of 176 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,079 Speaker 1: the colonies of the time, excluding Native Americans and African 177 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: American slaves, was two point five million, and estimated twenty 178 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:33,160 Speaker 1: percent of the colonists owned a copy. After its publication, 179 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: many American newspapers praised the piece. So here's a document 180 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 1: which is sweeping across the country, being very widely read, 181 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 1: and it is shaping people's thinking about this historic moment. 182 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: This is a moment of indecision. Nobody's yet really thought 183 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,959 Speaker 1: clearly about declaring independence. They know they're mad at the 184 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,559 Speaker 1: English government, they know they feel cheated, by Parliament. They 185 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: know that the arrogance of the English bish government is 186 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,560 Speaker 1: driving of nuts because they're such a deep sense of 187 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: freedom thereafter all, thousands of miles away, they're on the 188 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 1: edge of a continent. They're earning that with their own 189 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: hard work. They're taking their own risks with Indians. I mean, 190 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: from a standpoint of the Americans, London has become a 191 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:20,320 Speaker 1: place which is despotism rather than a place which is 192 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,200 Speaker 1: protecting them. And so pain is here beginning to explain 193 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,439 Speaker 1: to them how to think about where they are now. 194 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 1: The Pennsylvania Evening Posts on February thirteenth, seventeen seventy six says, quote, 195 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 1: if you know the author of common sense, tell him. 196 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,960 Speaker 1: He has done wonders and worked miracles, made Torris wigs, 197 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,360 Speaker 1: and washed Blackamore's white. He has made a great number 198 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: of converts here. His style is plain and nervous, his 199 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:50,079 Speaker 1: facts are true, his reasoning just and conclusive. Quote. I 200 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: might point out that Whigs were the loyal opposition to 201 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: the government, and so to be a wig was in 202 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,959 Speaker 1: fact to be critical of the established government, and has 203 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,840 Speaker 1: been pointed out by many historians. The Americans who decided 204 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:08,719 Speaker 1: to rebel were essentially in the Whig tradition. They were 205 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: very close to the English Whigs in their thinking and 206 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: in their sense of identity. So when the pennsylvani Evening 207 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: Post says that he has made Torries Whigs, he is saying, basically, 208 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: he's converting people from defending the established government of England 209 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 1: into being critics of the government of England. The New 210 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: York Journal on March seventeen, seventeen seventy six says, quote, 211 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: in your famous pamphlet entitled Common Sense, by which I 212 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 1: am convinced the necessitive independence to which I was before 213 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: a verse, you have given liberty to every individual to 214 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 1: contribute materials for that great building, the Grand Charter of 215 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: American Liberty. Now think about this. Here's this englishman who's 216 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: come over, and all of a sudden he captures, He 217 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: articulates the spirit of the age. He gives words to 218 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 1: people who had sort of thought about it, but they 219 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: didn't know how to say it. And suddenly he becomes 220 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: the catalyst for several hundred thousand Americans to begin to 221 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: move towards independence. The New London Gazette, published in Connecticut 222 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 1: on March twenty second, seventeen seventy six, says quote to 223 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: the author of the pamphlet and titled common Sense, Sir, 224 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 1: in declaring your own you have declared the sentiments of millions. 225 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: Your production may justly be compared to a land flood 226 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: that sweeps all before it. We were blind, but on 227 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: reading these enlightening works, the scales have fallen from our 228 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: eyes close Now it's just remarkable that he has had 229 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: that kind of an impact, and of course, as a 230 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: part of that process. That's why I say that in 231 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: many ways he's one of the founding fathers, even though 232 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: culturally and an income and in stature he doesn't really 233 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: quite fit with them. He's more of a rabble rouser, 234 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: more of an eye outsider, more of a radical, as 235 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: you'll see in a minute. But he's now established a believability, 236 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: a connection with probably close to a million Americans out 237 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: of a population of about two and a half million. However, 238 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: the revolution doesn't go well. July fourth is terrific. Everybody 239 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: is excited. They pass the eclati independence. They've already created 240 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: an army in Massachusetts, and to unify the country, they 241 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: sent a Virginian, George Washington, to head up the army. 242 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: In Massachusetts. Washington as soon as he gets a copy 243 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,800 Speaker 1: of the declaration as it read to the troops. Washington 244 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: understands the importance of morale, the importance of propaganda, the 245 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 1: importance of getting people that are said what they're doing. 246 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: And yet, despite their great victory in Boston, driving the 247 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: British out of the city, they fall on hard times. 248 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 1: The British have the power of the ocean, because the 249 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: Royal Navy dominates, they move their military. Washington marches down 250 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: to Brooklyn, his army begins to be shattered. He barely 251 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: survives thanks to a providential fog coming in so people 252 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 1: can't even see what's happening, and they manage to get 253 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 1: their army across from Brooklyn to Manhattan, when if the 254 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:23,640 Speaker 1: weather had been clear, the Royal Navy would have sunk 255 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:28,000 Speaker 1: the entire American army. He loses Fort Washington, about three 256 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: thousand troops surrendering, and his army gradually shrinks from a 257 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: high point of thirty thousand in September down to about 258 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:46,679 Speaker 1: twenty five hundred effectives by Christmas, and people are defeated. Despondent, demoralized, 259 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: Washington on the Long March across New Jersey runs into Paine, 260 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: who has signed up as a rifleman, and he says, 261 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: I don't need you as a rifleman, but I need 262 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: a new pamphlet. I needed explanation. You've got to tell 263 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: us now, why has this become so hard? And so 264 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: the man who wrote common sense and helped the country 265 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 1: decide it wanted to be independent goes to Philadelphia, it 266 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:18,639 Speaker 1: goes back to writing and produces the crisis entitled the 267 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: American Crisis, and it begins with some of the most 268 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 1: amazing words ever written, and I'm quoting pain. These are 269 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: the times that try men souls. The summer soldier and 270 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 1: the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the 271 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: service of their country. But he that stands it now 272 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,960 Speaker 1: deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny 273 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 1: like hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this 274 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 1: consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more 275 00:18:54,840 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: glorious the triumph. So here's this great pamphleteer coming back 276 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:04,159 Speaker 1: once again, saying, Okay, I help convince you ought to 277 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: be independent. Now I'm going to convince you got to 278 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 1: stick with it. As Washington and the extraordinary courageous last 279 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: throw of the dice, takes his troops to cross the 280 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,000 Speaker 1: Delaware on Christmas night in a snowstorm with large blocks 281 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: of ice in the river, gets them to march eight 282 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: miles in the dark to surprise eight hundred professional German 283 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:33,679 Speaker 1: soldiers who collapse and are captured. As the men are 284 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:37,720 Speaker 1: getting on the boat to cross the river, Washington has 285 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 1: the officers reading the crisis to remind them, this is 286 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: why we're here, this is what we're trying to do. Yes, 287 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: it's hard, but we can do it. So Payne has 288 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: two great impacts. His first great impact is getting people 289 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:02,439 Speaker 1: to decide that they want to be independent. His second 290 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:07,480 Speaker 1: great impact is convincing them to keep working and to 291 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 1: keep fighting. Now, in this period, Paine is actually serving 292 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: serve as a war correspondent. He's reporting to the country 293 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,919 Speaker 1: and he actually wrote sixteen articles sitting around the campfire 294 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: about what's going on during the retreat of Warshington's forces 295 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: from New York through New Jersey in December seventeen seventy six, 296 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: Payne wrote an account which was published in the Pennsylvania 297 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: Journal only in January twenty ninth, seventeen seventy seven. This 298 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,720 Speaker 1: is after he's written the Crisis, after he's helped the 299 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: Americans decide they are going to keep fighting and they're 300 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,880 Speaker 1: going to stand it. But here's what he writes. I'm 301 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:49,120 Speaker 1: quoting pain now from the Pennsylvania Journal. Fort Washington being 302 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:51,879 Speaker 1: obliged to surrender by a violent attack made by the 303 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: whole British army on Saturday, the sixteenth of November, the 304 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: generals determined to evacuate Fort Lee, which, being principally intended 305 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 1: preserved the communication with Fort Washington was becoming a manner useless. 306 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,120 Speaker 1: The stores were ordered to be removed, and great part 307 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,719 Speaker 1: of them was immediately sent off. The enemy, knowing the 308 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:13,439 Speaker 1: divided state of her army and that the terms of 309 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,199 Speaker 1: the soldiers enlistments would soon aspire, conceived the design of 310 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: penetrating into the Jerseys and hoped, by pushing their successes, 311 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: to be completely victorious. Accordingly, on Wednesday morning, the twentieth November, 312 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: it was discovered that a large body of British and 313 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: Hessian troops had crossed the North River and landed about 314 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: six miles above the fort. As our force was inferior 315 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,239 Speaker 1: to that of the enemy, the fort unfinished and on 316 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: a narrow neck of land. The garrison was ordered to 317 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: march for Hackensack Bridge, which, though much nearer the enemy 318 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 1: than the fort, they quietly suffered our troops to take 319 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: possession of. The principal loss suffered at Fort Lee was 320 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:56,640 Speaker 1: that of the heavy cannon, the greatest part of which 321 00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 1: was left behind. Our troops continued at Hackensack Bridge and 322 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: town that day and half of the next, when the 323 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 1: inn clemency of the weather, the want of quarters, and 324 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,920 Speaker 1: approach of the enemy obliged them to proceed to Aquaconock 325 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: and from thence to Newark, a party being left at 326 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 1: Aquaconack to observe the motions of the enemy. At Newark, 327 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: our little army was reinforced by Lord Sterling's and Colonel 328 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: Hans brigades, which had been stationed at Brunswick. Three days 329 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,399 Speaker 1: after our troops left Hackensack, a body of the enemy 330 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:31,480 Speaker 1: crossed the Passaic above Aquaconock and made their approaches slowly 331 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:35,880 Speaker 1: towards Newark, and seemed extremely desirous that we should leave 332 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: the town without their being put to the trouble of 333 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: fighting for it. The distance from Newark to Aquacnack is 334 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,159 Speaker 1: nine miles, and they were three days in marching that 335 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 1: distance from Newark. Our retreat was to Brunswick, and it 336 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: was hoped that the assistance of the Jersey militia would 337 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 1: enable General Washington to make the banks of the Raretan 338 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:56,920 Speaker 1: the bounds of the enemy's progress. But on the first 339 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: of December, the army was greatly weakened by the experts 340 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: in terms of enlistments of the Maryland and Jersey flying 341 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,160 Speaker 1: camp and the militia not coming in so soon as 342 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: was expected. Another retreat was the necessary consequence. Our army 343 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 1: reached Trenton on the fourth of December, continued there till 344 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,359 Speaker 1: the seventh, and then on the approach of the enemy, 345 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:21,679 Speaker 1: it was thought proper to pass the Delaware. Now that 346 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: was the sort of description for the whole country of 347 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: the way in which Washington's army is shrinking and getting 348 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: to a point where it almost ceases to exist. In fact, 349 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: at one point, in designing a very daring strategy, Washington 350 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,960 Speaker 1: reassures his generals by pointing out that if the army 351 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,880 Speaker 1: totally collapses, the revolution will be over. If the revolution 352 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: is over, every general at that meeting will be hung. 353 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 1: And therefore they have nothing to fear, because they have 354 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,640 Speaker 1: nothing to lose. Has remarkable courage on the part of Washington, 355 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: and it was a remarkable intelligence by Washington to recognize 356 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: that Pain really was a person who could help understand 357 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: what's going on. Pain writes The Crisis four and September 358 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:09,720 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy seven, which opens with the following, And I 359 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,640 Speaker 1: think this is useful to us today, because it's as 360 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 1: true for us today as it was in seventeen seventy seven. 361 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: Pain wrote, those who expect to reap the blessings of 362 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:25,639 Speaker 1: freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. 363 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,800 Speaker 1: And near the closed States, we fight not to enslave, 364 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:32,960 Speaker 1: but to set a country free and to make room 365 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: upon the earth for honest men to live in. Now, 366 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,439 Speaker 1: I think that's probably as good a capture of what 367 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: America is all about and of what we in our 368 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,400 Speaker 1: generation also have to do. And in that sense, if 369 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 1: you allow him to, Pain talks to our generation fully 370 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,440 Speaker 1: as much as he wrote for the founding father's generation. 371 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 1: You know. In seventeen seventy seven, Congress appointed Pain as 372 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,359 Speaker 1: Secretary to the Committee for Foreign Affairs. He held that 373 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: till early seventeen seventy nine, when he was forced to 374 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: resign as a result of what was called the Silas 375 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,160 Speaker 1: Dean affair. Silas Dean was a member of the Early 376 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,479 Speaker 1: Continent of Congress who was sent by Congress to France 377 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:18,359 Speaker 1: to obtain financial and military assistance. He successfully obtained and 378 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: sent arms from France to America, but upon his return 379 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:25,200 Speaker 1: to the States, he was accused of embezzlement and disloyalty 380 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: because of accusations that he charged France for the supplies 381 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 1: that were intended as gifts. These accusations were never proven, 382 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:38,080 Speaker 1: but they ruined Dean's political career. Paine publicly denounced Dean's 383 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: private arms dealing in France, but in doing so revealed 384 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:46,440 Speaker 1: secret negotiations with France, which led to his dismissal as 385 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: Secretary to the Committee for Foreign Affairs later that year. 386 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,120 Speaker 1: He was appointed Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly. In March 387 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:58,159 Speaker 1: of seventeen eighty, While Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, Payne 388 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: wrote the preamble to the Act for the Great Dual 389 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,159 Speaker 1: Abolition of Slavery, which was the first legislative measure for 390 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,040 Speaker 1: the emancipation of slaves in America. Paine originally hoped this 391 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:12,120 Speaker 1: Act would immediately abolish slavery, but because of opposition, he 392 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: was forced to write a compromise which outlined the gradual 393 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:19,000 Speaker 1: emancipation of slaves and said the Act specified that every 394 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 1: child born into slavery after passing the Act would be 395 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,640 Speaker 1: free upon reaching the age of twenty eight. The bill 396 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,360 Speaker 1: passed with a vote of thirty four to twenty one. 397 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: So pain has had an experience both of being pro 398 00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:37,119 Speaker 1: freedom for the American colonies from Britain and being pro 399 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 1: freedom for the abolition of slavery. In seventeen eighty seven, 400 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:46,720 Speaker 1: Paine returned to Britain but experienced persecution for his support 401 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: of the French Revolution. The French Revolution is a much 402 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:54,080 Speaker 1: more radical the revolution than the American Revolution, and that 403 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,679 Speaker 1: radicalism became a huge challenge to the very fabric of 404 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: British society. In seventeen ninety one, Payne wrote The Rights 405 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: of Man in response to the English writer and politician 406 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, which was 407 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,200 Speaker 1: written in seventeen ninety and Burke is proudly the most 408 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 1: famous conservative intellectual who's also a politician. Trying to think 409 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: through the threat of the radicalism of the French Revolution 410 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,920 Speaker 1: so now Paine is writing defending the French Revolution. The 411 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: Rights of Man was originally printed by Joseph Johnson and 412 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 1: published in February twenty first, seventeen ninety one, but it 413 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,640 Speaker 1: was a drawn for fear of prosecution by the government. 414 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: On March sixteenth, seventeen ninety one, J. S. Jordan published 415 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: Paine's ninety thousand word book. In the Rights of Man, 416 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:06,119 Speaker 1: Pain wrote, quote, it is a perversion of terms to 417 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: say that a charter gives rights. It operates by a 418 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: contrary effect, that of taking rights away. Rights are inherently 419 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 1: in all the inhabitants, But charters, by annolling those rights 420 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,080 Speaker 1: in the majority, leave the right by exclusion in the 421 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: hands of a few. They consequently are instruments of injustice. 422 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:30,200 Speaker 1: The fact therefore must be that the individuals themselves, each 423 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: in his own personal and sovereign right, entered into a 424 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,359 Speaker 1: contract with each other to produce a government. And this 425 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: is the only mode in which governments have a right 426 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: to arise, and the only principle in which they have 427 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: a right to exist. Of course, if you think about it, 428 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 1: assists in direct repudiation of the entire model of kingship, 429 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: in which power goes from God to the king, and 430 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: the King gives you rights. Pain is saying the opposite. 431 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: He's saying, oh, no, power comes to you from God, 432 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: and then you get to decide whether or not you 433 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:07,960 Speaker 1: want to have a contract with other people to create 434 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: a government. Now this writing is so radical for that 435 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: time that Pain is charged with libel. He flees to 436 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: France before being charged, and he never returns to England. 437 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: So now he's moved from the heroic defender and explainer 438 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: of the American Revolution to an advocate of a dramatically 439 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 1: more radical French Revolution. Paine wrote Georgejacques d'Antin, who's one 440 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,360 Speaker 1: of the great leaders of the French Revolution, on May sixth, 441 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:39,720 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety three. They'd originally hope to return to America 442 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty eight, but the French Revolution encouraged him 443 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: to stay. Paine wrote, quote, I am exceeding disturbed at 444 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 1: the distractions, jealousies, discontents, and uneasiness the reign among us, 445 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: in which if they continue, will bring ruin and disgrace 446 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 1: on the Republic. When I left America the seventeen eighty 447 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,040 Speaker 1: seven is my intention to return the year following, but 448 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: the French Revolution, and the prospect that afforded of extending 449 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,800 Speaker 1: the principles of liberty and fraternity through the greater part 450 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: of Europe had induced me to prolong my stale upwards 451 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 1: of six years. As soon as the constitution shall be established, 452 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 1: I shall return to America and be the future prosperity 453 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: of France. Ever so great, I shall enjoy no other 454 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: part of it than the happiness of knowing it. In 455 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety two, Paine actually took a seat in the 456 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: National Convention. We become one of the four major writers 457 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,960 Speaker 1: of a constitution for the Republic of France. So here 458 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:42,760 Speaker 1: is an Englishman who helps create, intellectually the American system, 459 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:48,200 Speaker 1: now is in France helping develop the French system, which 460 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: is far more radical than the American system. And of course, 461 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 1: in both cases he's opposed to Great Britain. In seventeen 462 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: ninety three, as a member of the National Convention, Pain 463 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: urged banishment not execution, of Louis of sixteenth in his family. 464 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 1: In November of seventeen ninety three, he was arrested and 465 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:11,040 Speaker 1: imprisoned in Luxembourg prison for opposing the beheading of Louis 466 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: of sixteenth. Payne continued to write in published works while 467 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 1: in prison. He published The Age of Reason while in prisoned. 468 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: In seventeen ninety four, After eleven months in prison, through 469 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: the intervention of James Monroe, the ambassador to France, Paine 470 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:32,520 Speaker 1: was released, narrowly escaping execution. In seventeen ninety six, Payne 471 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 1: published open letter of George Washington criticized him. Payne was 472 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: upset that after he expressed American citizenship while being imprisoned 473 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: in France, Washington and his administration did nothing to help 474 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: him get released. In the letter, Payne wrote, quote, Monopolies 475 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,000 Speaker 1: of every kind marked your administration almost in the moment 476 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 1: of its commencement. The lands obtained by the revolution were 477 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: lavished upon partisans. The interest of the disbanded soldier was 478 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:04,240 Speaker 1: sold to the specula. After fifteen years away, Paine remained 479 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:09,240 Speaker 1: in France until eighteen oh two, when President Thomas Jefferson 480 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,280 Speaker 1: invited him to return. On November fifteenth, eighteen oh two, 481 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: the National Intelliger Sir in washing d c. Published the 482 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: first of many letters from pain to the citizen of 483 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: the United States about his return to the States. Payne 484 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 1: wrote in his first letter, quote after an absence of 485 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: almost fifteen years, I am again returned to the country 486 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: in whose dangers I bore my share, and to whose 487 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: greatness I contributed my part. As this letter is intended 488 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,320 Speaker 1: to announce my arrival to my friends and my enemies. 489 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 1: If I have any for I ought to have none 490 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:44,000 Speaker 1: in America, and as introductory to others that will occasionally follow, 491 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: I shall close it by detailing the line of conduct 492 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: I shall pursue. I have no occasion to ask, and 493 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: do not intend to accept any place or office in 494 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: the government. There is none who could give me. There 495 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,200 Speaker 1: would be in any ways equal to the profits I 496 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: could make as an author. I have an established fame 497 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,480 Speaker 1: in the literary world. Could I reconcile it to my 498 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: principles to make money by my politics or religion. I 499 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: must be, in everything what I have ever been, a 500 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: disinterested volunteer. My proper sphere of action is on the 501 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,680 Speaker 1: common floor of citizenship, and to honest men I give 502 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:21,320 Speaker 1: my hand and my heart freely. I have some manuscript 503 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,200 Speaker 1: works to publish, of which I shall give proper notice, 504 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: and some mechanical affairs to bring forward. They will employ 505 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 1: all my leisure time. I shall continue these letters as 506 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: I see occasion, and as to the low party prince 507 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,000 Speaker 1: that choose to abuse me, they are welcome. I shall 508 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: not descend to answer them. I have been too much 509 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: used to such common stuff to take any notice of it. 510 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: The government of England honored me with a thousand martyrdoms 511 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 1: by burning me an effigy in every town in that country, 512 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: and their highlans in America may do this, said a 513 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: fresh I was can tell Thomas Paine thinks a lot 514 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:57,000 Speaker 1: of himself, and he sees things focused on him. You 515 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 1: can also see that he is inherently controvers cannot help himself. 516 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: He is new ability to addit himself to make it 517 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 1: more acceptable. After his arrival, he found that his reputation 518 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:12,239 Speaker 1: was mostly negative, with the press calling him an outrageous blasphemer, 519 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:16,840 Speaker 1: a lying, drunken, brutal infidel, and a lily livered, sinful rouge, 520 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: among others. Upon his return to America, Pain resided on 521 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:22,759 Speaker 1: and off at the farm that the State of New 522 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,480 Speaker 1: York gave him in seventeen eighty four for his service 523 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 1: in the cause of independence. In eighteen oh five, Pain 524 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:32,760 Speaker 1: moved to New York City, primarily on June eighth, eighteen 525 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 1: oh nine, Payne died in New York and was buried 526 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: on his farm in New Rochelle. Only six mourners were 527 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,839 Speaker 1: present at his funeral. At the time, he was not 528 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:46,760 Speaker 1: considered an American hero, as the New York Citizen included 529 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: in his obituary, he had lived long, did some good 530 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: and much harm. Years after his death in eighteen twenty one, 531 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:58,799 Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson wrote positively about Pain, quote, no writer has 532 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,359 Speaker 1: exceeded Pain at ease and familiarity of style, and perspicuity 533 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:07,799 Speaker 1: of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple and unassuming language. 534 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,360 Speaker 1: And this he may be compared with doctor Franklin. And 535 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: indeed his Common Sense was for a while believed to 536 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,040 Speaker 1: have written by doctor Franklin and published under the borrowed 537 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,720 Speaker 1: name of Pain, who had come over with him from England. 538 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,160 Speaker 1: I think in that sense Jefferson sort of captured it. 539 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: Pain was a remarkable pamphleteer. His first two great works, 540 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:35,640 Speaker 1: Common Sense, which really moved the country towards independence, and 541 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:39,760 Speaker 1: The Crisis, which really convinced Americans we had to stick 542 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: at it until we won, were historic and had an 543 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:49,320 Speaker 1: enormous impact on the American Revolution and an entire generation 544 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:53,800 Speaker 1: of people. His passion for taking on the British government 545 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,879 Speaker 1: led him to the much more radical French Revolution, and 546 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:03,560 Speaker 1: his desire to continuously have a sharp pen, which attacked 547 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:07,680 Speaker 1: much more than it might have under other circumstances, ultimately 548 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:12,719 Speaker 1: isolated him. But to understand America, to understand the role 549 00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 1: of the common citizen, to understand how much the American 550 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:21,160 Speaker 1: Revolution was, at its heart a popular revolution of everyday people, 551 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:25,480 Speaker 1: people who'd been moved by reading a pamphlet, to be 552 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:29,560 Speaker 1: reminded that ideas matter, and that it is the power 553 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:34,040 Speaker 1: of ideas that drives everything else. That's the legacy of 554 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:36,880 Speaker 1: Thomas Pain, and it's a legacy worth all of us 555 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: remembering and all of us teaching others about. Thank you 556 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:46,640 Speaker 1: for listening to Founding Fathers week on Nutsworld. You can 557 00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:49,319 Speaker 1: learn more about Thomas Pain on our show page at 558 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 1: newtsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced by Gingish three sixty 559 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,879 Speaker 1: and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guernsey Sloan and our 560 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was 561 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:06,080 Speaker 1: created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team at 562 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,719 Speaker 1: Gingrich three sixty. If you've been enjoying newtswork, I hope 563 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,319 Speaker 1: you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with 564 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:15,719 Speaker 1: five stars and give us a review so others can 565 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 1: learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of Newtsworld 566 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:22,960 Speaker 1: consign up for my three free weekly columns at Ginrich 567 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:27,400 Speaker 1: three sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingrich. This 568 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:28,360 Speaker 1: is Newsworld