Born in Thetford, England, Thomas Paine began life as a corsetmaker, his father's trade. He showed an interest in philosophy and science as a young man, and this interest led him to become an influential thinker during the American and French Revolutions. Paine worked as both a corsetmaker and an excise officer in England. He was widowed by his first wife and agreed to a formal separation from his second. Shortly after his separation in 1774, he met Benjamin Franklin in London and sailed to Philadelphia with a letter of introduction to Franklin's son-in-law.
In 1775, Paine became editor of The Pennsylvania Magazine, writing poems and articles anonymously. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Paine published Common Sense in January of 1776, which called for an American republic and was read widely throughout the American colonies. It was followed by a series of letters supporting American independence and defending Common Sense that were published under a pseudonym. Paine joined a militia later that year, acting as an aide-de-camp and war correspondent. In December of that year, The American Crisis, Number 1 was printed to encourage American soldiers following numerous defeats and was followed by more than ten installments throughout the war.
While living in England following the war, Paine closely watched the political climates of both Britain and France. In 1791 he published The Rights of Man, a defense of the French Revolution and traveled to Paris. There, he called for Louis XVI to be overthrown. The second part of The Rights of Man (1792) included a discussion of republican governments and how the government can help the poor. When the French monarchy was overthrown later that year, Paine was granted honorary French citizenship and a seat in the National Convention. Well-loved in France, Paine was at this time summoned to stand trial for libel and sedition in England. He was convicted in absentia in December of 1792 and outlawed in England. Almost a year later, Paine was removed from the National Convention and arrested. Paine remained there until James Monroe, the American minister to France, successfully pleaded for Paine's release. While Paine was in prison, The Age of Reason, an explanation of Paine's deist beliefs, was published.
Paine was reinstated to the National Convention in 1794 and fought unsuccessfully for universal suffrage until the convention was dissolved in 1795. Paine criticized leaders in the United States, England, and France until he was hardly welcome in any of these countries. The French threatened to deport him, and when he returned to the United States, old friends refused to see him. He died in New York City in 1809. Paine wrote many essays on democracy, universal suffrage, and revolution, shaping the unheard of idea of democracy into the freedom y the citizens of so many countries know today.
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