Thomas Paine

On March 26, 1771, he married Elizabeth Olive. Towards the end of his life, he was cared for by a woman called Marguerite Brazier, who also took responsibility of burying him after his death. At the time of his death, many American newspapers published obituaries stating, ‘He had lived long, did some good and much harm’. In the end, only 6 people attended his funeral.

Much of Paine’s writings influenced a number of his contemporaries, philosophical peoples and freethinking radicals. Personalities such as Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln, defended Pains deism and his views on religion while others found it fit to attack his opinions.

Thomas Paine was born to Joseph Paine and Frances in Thetford, Norfolk, England. His father was a Quaker, while his mother was a staunch Anglican.

He studied at Thetford Grammar School and when he became a teenager, he was made an apprentice to his father, who was a corsetmaker. He also served as a privateer for a brief period of time.

In his earlier days, he established his own business in Sandwich, Kent, which failed miserably, following which, he was appointed as a supernumerary officer.

In 1762, he became an Excise officer and two years later, he was transferred to Alford, where he earned 50 Sterling Pounds per annum.

On August 27, 1765, he was fired as Excise Officer because he claimed to have examined a few properties that he never really inspected in the first place. He requested for reinstatement and till the time he didn’t get back to work at the Board of Excise, he worked as a stay-maker for a few months.

From 1767 to 1768, he served as a school teacher in London and also gradually became involved in civic issues in and around the city.

He authored, ‘The Case of the Officers of Excise’, which was an article requesting the Parliament for better pay and working conditions for the excise officers. This is largely believed to be his early, written political works.

Paine authored ‘Common Sense’, a 50-page pamphlet in 1776, in which we argued that America should demand complete independence from Great Britian. This was considered one of his most inspirational works and within just a few months of its publication, it sold over 5, 00,000 copies. At that time American public opinion was still largely undecided about full-scale revolt and freedom from British rule. Through ‘Common Sense’, Paine provided cogent arguments in favour of independence and played an influential role in building public opinion against British rule.