Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine, Tax Collector?
What would you think if I told you that America’s banner-waver of the American Revolution – often described as a “tax revolt” – was actually a tax collector? Well, I don’t have to allege it, because it’s true. As I point out in my new book, Thomas Paine: A Lifetime of...
Thomas Paine: Fear, Government Power and Standing Armies
From the earliest days of the republic, politicians have used fear to expand government power. This was the strategy the Federalist Party used to get a standing army. Thomas Paine called them out on it. The founding generation was extremely wary of standing armies....
Remembering Thomas Paine on his Birthday
Yesterday in history – on Jan. 29, 1737 – Thomas Paine was born. An unlikely English-born banner-waver for the cause of American independence, he emigrated to America in 1774, and became editor of one of Philadelphia’s leading publications. Born to the...
Thomas Paine, Passionate Pamphleteer for Liberty
As nobody before, Thomas Paine stirred ordinary people to defend their liberty. He wrote the three top-selling literary works of the eighteenth century, which inspired the American Revolution, issued a historic battle cry for individual rights, and challenged the...