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...