Thomas Paine: American Founder and Political Scientist
Author(s): Michael M. Kiley
Source: Biography, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Winter 1985), pp. 51-67
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
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Michael
M.
Kiley
Thomas
American
Paine:
Founder
and Political Scientist
In 1925,
Thomas
A. Edison
'Common
urged readers to "consider
of
this
Paine's
of
Sense',
great American Republic,
planning
which he may very justly be termed the real founder."1 Thomas Paine
was, indeed, a founder of America and an early political scientist. Acri
and
mony has prevented credit on both accounts2—an
acrimony which
began with defamation by a Pitt Ministry officer, Richard Chalmers,
The Life of Thomas Paine (1791) under the pseudonym
Oldys.3 During the preceding period, that of the Revolution
Paine was regarded in America as a founder.4
Confederation,
who wrote
Francis
and
Today, Paine
seems not to fit the aristocratic pattern of the Founding
Fathers, yet he does satisfy the objective criteria. An atypical founder,
Paine contributed as an English immigrant. He had been nurtured in
pub debate, yet was a lobbyist before Parliament. He was a craftsman,
a minister and a town officer. He was a visionary and a scientist. He
gave pratical ideas, a political philosophy, and personal dedication.
Not only was Paine a founder, he was a prescient seventeenth cen
tury political scientist. He was an early empirical student of the tech
nique of government. Science pervaded his life. He was an inventor
who built and patented an iron bridge. His fine sense of experimental
And the
inquiry served a wide curiosity about natural phenomena.
same practical urges dominated his politics. Paine applied basic quan
titative measures to questions
of economics,
finance, welfare; he
understood elementary game theory in legislative voting; and he fore
saw the use and importance of public opinion sampling. He under
stood the importance of demographics in connection with democracy
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52
biography
1
Vol. 8, No.
in expanding nation-states. He warned, however, of the weakness of
his contemporaries'
ruling conception of checks and balances, a frail
from
analogy
physics, by pointing to the use of the civil list by George
of which Paine
III. The Society for Political Inquiries in Philadelphia,
was a member and writer of the Charter, was probably America's first
political science association.
I. Paine's
Life
Paine was born January 29, 1737 in Thetford, England. This was his
boyhood home, and here he was an apprentice to his father's craft of
staymaker or corsetmaker. He left the distasteful craft5 and sat for
for the excise service in Lewes, Sussex. There he was
appointed exciseman, and he also held office as a member of the Jury
or Committee of Twelve. An early marriage ended with the death of
his wife, possibly in childbirth. He remarried, less as a romantic union
examinations
than to help the family of his recently deceased landlord. The couple
separated on good terms before Paine came to the colonies.
Paine enjoyed ice skating and attended scientific lectures in Lon
don, but he especially enjoyed pub debates at Lewes's White Hart Inn.
He often won the weekly prize, an old Homer. The excise officers
asked Paine to petition Parliament for higher wages, so in 1772 he
wrote The Case of the Officers of Excise and lobbied members of Parlia
ment in London without success. There he met and impressed Ben
jamin Franklin and Oliver Goldsmith. While he was away the family
tobacconist business failed, and Paine was dismissed for absence from
his excise post. He left England for the colonies in October, 1774,
carrying a letter of introduction from Franklin
Franklin's son-in-law.
Philadelphia,
to Richard
Bach
of
Soon after arriving Paine was appointed editor of the Pennsylvania
Magazine by Robert Aitkin. The Battle of Lexington in April, 1775,
convinced Paine reconciliation was impossible, so he wrote Common
took until January, 1776, and
to a fund for army clothing.6
All of the several million inhabitants of the colonies probably read it or
Sense during the fall of 1775. Publication
Paine's half of the proceeds he donated
heard it read, 120,000 Copies having sold in three months.7
Paine joined the Pennsylvania Associators as a volunteer soldier and
became
to General George Washington. Between the
aide-de-camp
retreat into New Jersey December, 1776, and the month of December,
1783, Paine wrote the series of sixteen articles for colonial newspapers
"The American Crisis".8 As the war proceeded he served, in
Secre
turn, in the posts of Secretary to the 1777 Indian Commission,
called
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THOMAS
Kiley
PAINE,
POLITICAL
SCIENTIST
53
tary to the Committee for Foreign Affairs of Congress, and Clerk of
the Pennsylvania Assembly.
Paine was a principal contributor of innovative ideas during the
Confederation period, and argued as well for a new and stronger cen
tral government at the close of the war. During this period he wrote
Dissertations:
On Government; the Affairs of the Bank; and Paper
most noteworthy work during this time. He also
Money (1784)—his
wrote
Public
(1780)
and "Rhode
Good
(1780),
Island"
the "Newfoundland
Fisheries"
letters
letters (1782). The Society for Political
in 1787 with a charter written
was founded in Philadelphia
Inquiries
by Paine. Meetings were held in Franklin's library. Paine left for
France soon thereafter, following several years of engineering and
for approval from the Academy of Sciences of the
experimentation,
iron bridge design. He expected to be gone only several months.9
The next five years were divided between London and Paris. Paine
attended
to family business in England, met with reformers like Fox
and others like Burke, and constructed a model bridge 110 feet in
length. In France Paine received the key to the Bastille from Lafayette
for Washington; founded the Republican
Club with Condorcet; and
Manifesto" which was "placarded in Paris
published the "Republican
July 1, 1791 after the flight of Louis XVI".10 He also wrote On The
Legislative and Executive Powers (1791). Rights of Man appeared in
1791 (3-400,000
copies), followed by a second edition in 1792 in two
parts (1.5 million copies).11 The ministry summoned Paine and set
trial for fall, 1792; jailed bookseller J. S. Jordan; commissioned
the
and sent the constable for Paine September,
"biography",
William Blake warned Paine the evening of September twelfth
not to go home but to immediately leave England,12 and the constable
Chalmers
1792.
arrived in Dover
September
thirteenth some
hours after Paine
had
sailed for France.
In 1792 Paine had been elected a Deputy to the French Convention
from Calais, and he now attended sessions. He opposed the execution
of the king, and was imprisoned by the Terrorists in the Luxembourg
fortress December,
1793 until November,
1794. He had been con
by Robespierre but an error allowed him to escape.13 While
awaiting execution, Paine showed "quiet courage" and gave money to
other prisoners.14 Paine explained the failure of the revolution in Age
demned
of Reason (1794), which he stayed in France to write. Before he finally
returned to America in 1802, several important pamphlets were pub
lished: Dissertation on First Principles of Government (1795) in support
of the 1792 proposed
French constitution, Agrarian Justice (1797),
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and
54
Vol. 8, No.
biography
"Maritime Compact"
son in America.
(1797)
1
which was reprinted by President Jeffer
At the age of sixty-five Paine returned to a vastly changed and hos
tile America. His friendship with the President was unchanged, but
the Federalist press was abusive to both.15 Paine wrote more during
the last seven years of his life than any earlier period. Constitutional
Reform (1805), "Liberty of the Press" (1806), "The Cause of Yellow
(1806), correctly linking the disease with harbor water, and
on
Dreams"
"Essay
(1807) were the principal writings. He wrote in
his will, "I have lived an honest and useful life to mankind . . ." and
Fever"
died the morning of June 8, 1809, in New York City.
II. AN AMERICAN
FOUNDER
As usually portrayed, Paine arrived in the colonies an inexperienced
firebrand fleeing past mistakes who was swept into the vortex of
events, dizzily composing incendiary propaganda with other people's
ideas.16 This picture is not accurate. Had Paine no political experi
had been a Lewes Vestryman, a civil servant under the
a
labor
Crown,
spokesman and lobbyist, and had flourished in the
face-to-face politics of the English pub. Paine served in the Lewes
Committee of Twelve from October, 1769 until July, 1772,17 dealing
and Head
with taxation, elections and auditing the
Constables'
ence?
He
accounts.18
boroughs'
Eighteenth
century
excisemen
rode
a circuit
by
horseback, inspecting the goods in pubs and stores. They were under
paid, the work was unpopular if not dangerous in a coastal area where
existed, and each officer had more goods than he could
actually inspect. Paine argued that higher pay would improve collec
tions.19 Thirty-seven years old when he emigrated to the colonies,
Paine's accomplishments
in his home country outweigh his failures: a
smuggling
son, appointed by merit to the excise service, a town offi
to lobby for the excisemen in London, and impressing
and Goldsmith.
These long strides gave Paine a valuable
staymaker's
cer, chosen
Franklin
background.20
What is an American
The term suggests the nobility of
of
Benjamin Franklin, the whiz-kid
George Washington,
Alexander Hamilton (still a student at Kings College at the start of the
Jefferson, the skill of
war), the integrity and intuition of Thomas
Madison
whose
notes
the
record
of the Constitu
James
provide
only
Founder?
the wisdom
tional
and perhaps the juridical innovation
of John
Convention),
Marshall. The concept therefore would include these elements: public
service at personal cost, exposure and loyalty, innovativeness,
perfor
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Kl ley
THOMAS
PAINE,
political
scientist
5 5
manee
of the duties of office, a charter position in the new republic,
and a vision of the future. This might be one formula
character,
high
tion of'an American Founder'.
met these criteria—though he was neither a native
colonist nor a man of wealth. He served the public and its causes with
affection throughout his life at a cost equivalent to complete generos
Thomas
Paine
ity. So complete was Paine's loyalty, under fire and duress, to the cause
of democracy that he alienated people like John Adams and Gouver
neur Morris.
Thomas
Paine was unusually creative. He was not com
but
he
pletely original,
put principles to work on immediate, practical
While he held colonial
at
what
he
called
the "seedtime".21
problems
appointments, the vehicle for Paine's contributions
was not office but personal contact through informal association. Not
just a revolutionary, Paine contributed to the operations and structure
and Confederation
of the Confederation
and of the emerging Constitutional
federation.
Paine had high moral character and habits. A vision of America based
on human perfectibility motivated him, and he envisioned brighter
possibilities than did the Constitution framers.
on particular character traits.
These general qualities depended
Paine was generous without being indiscriminate, and self-sacrificing
without seeking martyrdom.22 These virtues he displayed frequently.
For example he paid the costs of publishing Common Sense himself,
then gave half the receipts to the publisher of the first of several edi
tions, Robert Bell, and donated his own half to the fund for winter
clothing for the army.23 From sales of 500,000, he kept nothing. When
the choice came in 1779 between silence and safety or confirming
fraud by an American emissary, Silas Deane, at the cost of his position
as Secretary to the Committee for Foreign Affairs of Congress, Paine
brought the evidence forward. He then resigned, perhaps America's
first whistleblower and, as one of the first to oppose profit from public
office, Paine stimulated an anti-graft campaign resulting in the first
conflict-of-interest laws in Maryland and Virginia.24
financial security, he
Paine never sought individual
Although
with precision to capitalize
public concerns. During the
financial woes of the 1780's, Paine suggested and then backed with his
entire salary of 500 dollars the Bank of North America.25 The immedi
invested
ate need was financing army supplies.26 Paine's use of money Dorfman
and others call poor personal planning,27 in part for this reason: Paine
did later request, and was granted, reimbursement for out-of-pocket
expenses, but he did not buy income securities such as Continental
Convention.28
bonds which figured strongly in the Constitutional
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56
Vol. 8, No.
biography
This
later in France,
continued
generosity,
Paine's.
was
a major
1
virtue of
The loyalty of a founder is more than steady support of the prevail
ing cause. A living model, created from the resources of character, that
summons loyalty in others, would be a founder's loyalty. This Paine
displayed by accepting mortal risk, by acting and speaking strictly
from principle, even in self-criticism, and by drawing on his fervent
love of the enfranchised public. A multitude of illustrations can be
given.
Paine's
risk, had the Revolution
failed, was near-certain death
to
his unusual practice of signing personally his newspaper arti
owing
cles.29 This published acceptance of responsibility has earned Paine
one student's
description as the first responsible journalist.30 Princi
Paine
like a compass and paradoxically, Paine's clarity of
ples guided
orientation heightened amidst turmoil, as Age of Reason and Paine's
Pennsylvania Magazine articles show. In Paris in 1794 whilst the city
lived the Reign of Terror, Paine was heading a critique of events with
his testimony ofbelief in God.31 In the confusion of the years 1774 and
1775 Paine distilled the meaning of the emerging nation. Freedom for
bids slavery32, a nation rests on its society and that rests on families
which must not (but did) victimize women33, and all men should vote,
free of qualification.34 The public which Paine loved was the new
democratic
polity, not the patricians' or aristocrats' tolerance for the
citizen, but a deep love. Loyalty to the Revolution was fidelity to self
men.35
governing
(A)
the
charter
whole
whether
is to be understood
enters
of religion,
into,
to
as a bond
support
professional
the
freedom,
of solemn
right
of
obligation,
every
separate
which
part,
or property.36
Political
creativity in gestating America required the thinker's, the
visionary's, and the inventor's skills, not alone, but all three, a synthe
sis.37 That is, it required someone moving with speed and agility from
politics already thought-out to new issues.38 It required as well a wide
and a sense of timing. And it required finally the
time-perspective
invention of new political structures.
Paine's knowledge of England pressed him to conclude quickly that
the Battle of Lexington was a terminus.39 No one leaps into a vacuum,
so Paine suggested outlines of a new government right in Common
Sense.*0 Paine's influence in Philadelphia
during the Second Conti
nental Congress
(he was not a delegate)
has led one admirer to wrongly
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THOMAS
Kiley
PAINE,
POLITICAL
57
SCIENTIST
Better
credit Paine with authoring the Declaration of Independence.41
is Paine's role seen in this comment by Ralph Izard of South Carolina:
America
an advocate
natural
has
been
as Mr.
fortunate
Paine
in having
. . . against
her
supported
by so able
of so many
of her own
cause
the assaults
offspring.42
papers similarly inspired, articulated and innovated
are the times that try mens'
in
the
face
of danger. "These
politics
souls" began "Crisis I". The practical problem in "Crisis VIII" was
supplies; the remedy, the supply fund. In Public Good (1780) Paine
"Crisis"
The
and criticized Virginia's claim to western
the
a new formulation of federalism that foreshadowed
called for a new Constitution
land upon
Northwest Ordinance
of 1787.43 And when Rhode Island balked at rat
ifying a Confederation tax assessment, Paine formulated in letters to
Rhode Island newspapers the seminal principle of dual sovereignty,44
that state and federal authority coexists. Woodward credits Paine with
the first published use of the name, 'United States of America', while
Foner calls Paine the orignator in Rights of Man of the very language
of nineteenth century American politics.45
Thomas
Not half a decade after arriving alone in Philadelphia,
Paine had become an officer of the Continental Congress. Paine held
elective and appointive posts in three countries. He had been very suc
cessful editing the Pennsylvania Magazine,
having contributed one
five-fold.46 Sec
circulation
fifth of the copy himself and increased the
to three commanders—Daniel
Roberdeau,
retary or aide-de-camp
had entered service
Nathaniel Greene and George Washington—Paine
as a volunteer soldier. As Secretary to the Committee for Foreign
Affairs of Congress, Paine dealt with matters of diplomacy now the
of the State Department.47 When Paine
Assembly.
appointed Clerk of the Pennsylvania
Paine a public relations specialist in February,
business
left this post he was
Congress appointed
at a salary of
1782,
eight hundred dollars per year.
nor
Is someone who signed neither the Declaration of Independence
the Constitution entitled to charter status in the American Republic?
Was Paine riding the coat—tails of history or breasting the waves? In
terms of timing, a look at the Battle of Lexington and the retreat from
Ft. Lee to Trenton shows Paine's leadership. He first regarded Lexing
ton as Britain's de facto declaration of war when others hoped for rec
This irreconcilability, likened
meant
to a brigand disrupting a courtroom,49
separation, which Paine
onciliation
in a vacuous
ambivalence.48
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58
Vol. 8, No. 1
biography
stated forcefully. This force came from Paine's view of colonial strate
gic superiority, formulated earlier in Pennsylvania Magazine articles.50
The contest was a question, not of this or that battle, but of moral
was the
strength, logistical support, and demographics. Demographics
easiest factor—the colonies, fighting on their own soil, won if they
didn't lose.51 Moral superiority and logistics would take work. Good
society is based on love, so we must still our grasping natures.52 Honor
resides in the public, it has nothing to do with duelling53 or titles.54
Spiritual freedom precedes political freedom.55 We would be tested in
war, because England was carried by the opinion that the colonists
would not fight.56 But if we simply kept the army supplied, we could
not
lose.57
Paine
could
retreat in
say, secondly, during the disheartening
1776
from
Ft.
Lee
in
to
the
December,
Trenton,
stirring essay com
posed on a drumhead in Washington's camp:
There
is a natural
but
trifles,
by
tude
firmness
when
which,
58
...
in some
minds
which
cannot
a
discovers
unlocked,
be unlocked
cabinet
of
forti
Again, when the prevailing mood was running opposite what Paine
was saying, he expressed optimism born of his own assessments and
thinking. This 'looking on the bright side' suggests to those who expe
rienced World War II propaganda
an insubstantial manipulation
of
opinion,59 but minimally one may say that Paine was leading and that
he had recorded the grounds for his views earlier on. Paine sustained
this leadership throughout the 1770's and early 1780's, on other issues
such as the debates over the Pennsylvania
finance crisis.
Constitution
and the public
What kind of person was Thomas Paine? The inquirer must first
book to see the source and specifics of the negative
Paine myth.60 The nearly two centuries of bad literature, pro and con,
read the Chalmers
must be put aside. The reader distills these facts. Physically Paine was
"about five feet ten inches high; and rather athletic; he was broad
shouldered, and latterly stooped a little."61 Clio Rickman, who wrote
the forgoing, and who was a friend of Paine in Europe, offers this addi
tional description:
His eye . . . was full, brilliant, and singularly piercing . . . like a gen
tleman
cious;
had
of the
his
every
old
French
school...
knowledge
was
universal
fascination
that anecdote,
his
and
manners
boundless
novelty
and
were
...
truth
his
could
easy
and
gra
conversation
give
it.62
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THOMAS PAINE, political
Kiley
59
scientist
By personal habit Paine practised moderation in food, social drinking,
indifference to property, and sexual moderation if not celibacy follow
ing the first marriage.63 The atmosphere of the congenial pub seems
Paine's favorite meeting ground. He had strong religious beliefs. He
disliked religious ceremony and doctrine, he was familiar with many
religious traditions including the work of Sanskrit scholar Sir William
or
Jones (died 1794),64 he practised what he called contemplation,
friends
were
Paine's
was
a
and
he
meditation,65
Theophilanthropist.
Clio Rickman,
Joel Barlow,
ette, Condorcet,
Bonneville.
III. An Early
Thomas
Kosciusko,
Political
Jefferson, William Blake, Lafay
Robert Fulton, and Madame and Nicolas
Thomas
Scientist
Paine was one of our earliest political scientists. He was a sci
observer, inventor, a believer in the doctrine of per
entific man—an
fectibility. He was someone who actually thought in global terms and
saw nations as units in a larger and yet embryonic whole. He wrote the
charter for, and belonged to, the Society for Political Inquiries in Phil
adelphia. The unfolding importance of demography in large nation
states in relation to democracy was one of the seeds of Paine's think
ing. He did work that, while necessarily soft in data, ranged from
comparative politics, through legislative processes and administration,
to political economy and political psychology, as well as sociology. One
key to Paine's sense of the science of politics is his frequently demon
strated ability to quantify where appropriate. Yet Paine formulated an
early critique of the mechanical precepts surrounding the notion of
checks and balances, having grasped the limits of such analogies in
politics and written constitutions.
Paine regarded scientific curiosity as intrinsic in all people because
expressed by children in play, and as a young man he went to scientific
lectures in London.66 Throughout his life, Paine experimented. With
George Washington he sought the nature of gas seen bubbling out of
the creek at Rocky Hill, New Jersey. While soldiers disturbed the bot
tom mud with poles, Paine held lighted rolls of cartridge paper over
the water and confirmed that the "swamp
gas" was flammable.67
was a pastime of Paine's in many areas: astronomy,68 geol
Paine
ogy,69 metallurgy,70 physics,71 and psychology.72 Inventions
actually constructed were a planing machine, a new crane, a gunpow
der motor, and a steamboat.73 The iron bridge was Paine's major
Observation
invention,
described
in his British patent (1788)
as a compound
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of
60
Vol. 8, No.
biography
1
arches designed after a spiders web.74 Paine's design and a 110 foot
prototype were the forerunner of bridges constructed of iron in
was done between
England in the 1800's.75 Most of this engineering
May, 1786 and the summer of 1789.
saw himself as a citizen
Paine
of the world.
He
had a sense
of
internationalism, a premonition of world community, and a grounding
in the politics of three different countries. Paine travelled often, was at
home in many places with ease, and while he was a diplomat on occa
sion (France in 1781, England in 1788-89),76 his three critical changes
of continent were all on personal business.77 The new immigrant of
1774 explained in this way the writing of Common Sense:
It was
that made
of America
the cause
condition
the country
unnatural
reconciliation.78
to me
appeared
. . . the dangerous
me an author
an impossible
in, by courting
and
of just a few months was all Paine had expected when he
left America to submit the iron bridge to the French Academy.79 Paine
An absence
in
was
no
sense
a
who
revolutionary
from
went
to
country
country
inflaming passions, therefore, but rather someone who found volatile
conditions. He carried a tremendous reputation with him, and was
asked in England and France for help. It was as a political scientist
that Paine accepted election as a Deputy from Calais.80 Having experi
enced national politics in three countries before the eighteenth century
ended, Paine regarded the nation-state as natural and necessary for the
present stage of Man, but transient.81 Along with heightened political
capacity throughout the entire race, Paine foresaw world community,
the vision with his deepest allegiance.82 This is part of the larger doc
and the world will expire
trine of perfectability, that "improvement
. . ,"83
together
The February, 1787, preface to the Bylaws of the Society for Politi
cal Inquiries, written by Paine, contains this statement:
While
of subordinate
objects
ciated
labors
cated
science
of learned
and
of government
have
importance
ingenious
has
been
the
men,
generally
the
employed
arduous
and
left to the care
asso
compli
of practi
cal politicians, or the speculations of individual theorists. From a desire
of supplying
try, it is now
the
knowledge
this
deficiency,
proposed
and
of promoting
to establish
of government,
and
a society
the welfare
for mutual
for the advancement
of our
coun
in
improvement
of political
sci
ence.84
Paine was only to attend meetings for two months between February
and his departure for France in April, 1787. But he did contribute one
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THOMAS PAINE, political
Kiley
61
scientist
took place in Franklin's
dissertation".85
Meetings
and
members
included
Washington, Robert and Gouverneur
library,
and
Benjamin Rush, among others.86 Topics
Morris, James Wilson,
were set one week in advance, members submitted papers for discus
sion, and rules governed membership and the procedings.87 This 1787
"well-written
group was probably America's first political science association.
The key to Paine's contribution to the distant science of politics was
the connection between demography and democracy and the appropri
ate use of quantification and empirical inquiry. Democracy for Paine
was a right grounded in a generous view of Man, it meant universal
male suffrage and participation, and involves a view of representation
as fact-finding.88 Paine raised or operationalized
questions of political
structure, process and outcome, but without deflating his presupposi
tions to a utilitarian hedonistic calculus. Those concerned with a quan
titative approach to politics as technique89 often exclude all else.90 For
facts provide the input and serve to evaluate the
output, which Paine found quite lacking in England.
The concern with technique drew from Paine a plan for the new
measureable
Paine,
government in Common Sense, a method for the gradual emancipation
of slaves,91 an operationalized defense of the wide suffrage provision of
the 1776 Pennsylvania
constitution,92 the innovation of dual sover
the
of
legislative process,93 the principles of public
eignty, analysis
finance,94 methods of international negotiation,95 and a system of pub
lic welfare.96 Rights of Man (1791-92)
yielded discussion of adminis
tration by monarchic and republican models,97 representation,98 divi
sion
of powers,99
legislative
process,100
legal
rights,101
constitutions,102
and public opinion as a new form of political input.103
Paine also did a surprising amount of quantification of political
with
the colonies'
He compared
strategic resources
questions.
on
of
articles
military strength.104 He wrote the series
England's
finance covering the cost and class burden of England's wars105 and
of British monitarism,106 welfare costs, and others.
the weaknesses
Some of the questions Paine gave succinct empirical treatment were
the political economy of fisheries,107 the causes of the American Revo
lution,108 tax redistribution,109 questions of public opinion,110 fran
chise effects of voting qualifications,111 game analysis of legislative vot
ing,112 welfare measures,113 and the ecology of yellow fever.114
IV. Conclusion
founder and political scientist, whose
view of Man belongs to a third stream of political ideas. That Paine is
Thomas
Paine was an American
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62
1
Vol. 8, No.
biography
of Edmund
Burke, called classical conservative,
sin,
inequality and privilege, is certain. That Paine
embracing original
is also not of the school of John Locke's "possessive
individualism",
called classical liberal, is the point to be made.115 Locke began as did
not of the school
Burke with Man in the Bible, but pictured Man in the Garden of Eden
as an acquirer of property, and government as an umpire. Property is
the axis.
is that of Roger Williams' free
of
civic virtues and independence
third stream of Thomas
The
Paine
Franklin's
conscience,
Benjamin
new-world
and
Crevecoeur's
thought,
man of elevated
character
and
society. In the nineteenth century it was taken up again by Emerson,
Thoreau and Whitman. Paine spoke of reason, contemplation, a com
pact with God prior to the social contract, a science of government,
democracy, and perfectibility. He said:
The
duty
of man
is not a wilderness
he is to pass
by tickets
consists
of two
and
but
with
is delegated
power
will
be despised;
ted,
but who
His
points.
and
which
will
they
to those
regard
world
and
must
feel;
man
by. If those
be done
know
can
simple,
be respected;
to whom
Central
if not,
no power
they
is delega
of them.116
nothing
Coast
which
through
and
every
to do as he would
well,
it, the rational
assume
gates,
It is plain
to God,
duty
do
with
of turnpike
to the other.
one
to his neighbor,
respect
to whom
from
Eye Associates
NOTES
1. Thomas
A. Edison,
Paine
in Van
Rochelle:
2. See
the
and
LVII,
America
(New
Douglas
Wilson,
America
created
Paine
Cheetham,
Eric
561-569;
pp.
York:
The Life
American
Education",
the
Foner,
"Thomas
1900-1970",
of Thomas
Political
Science
Doctor's
John Stock
Paine
Jacobson,
Thomas
Paine
1976,
Century:
dissertation,
York:
(New
"Political
Review,
and
pp.
George
myth,
Norman
(New
Vol. I, p. viii.
(London:
Oldys
Press),
University
Paine in the Twentieth
unpublished
Paine
negative
Oxford
Paine
1925,
Association),
of Thomas
Life
Works of Thomas
by Francis
include
Reinterpretations
Political
Vol.
1963,
James
1809.
Southwick),
ence
and
1791,
dale),
which
biographies
Van der Weyde,
and
Historical
National
The Life of Thomas
Chalmers,
M.
The Life
éd.,
Weyde,
Paine
Thomas
first two
to William
introduction
der
Revolutionary
269;
xii,
His
Sci
March,
Jerome
Reputation
Auburn
in
University,
1972.
3. G. Vale, preface
to Life of Thomas
4. Paine's
can be seen in these letters: George
standing
1783,
Van der Weyde,
6, 1792,
ibid.,
Vol.
Paine
Vol. VII,
I, pp.
pp.
239-240;
(Boston:
19-20;
James
J. P. Mendum)
Washington
George
Madison
1871.
to Paine,
Washington
Sept.
to Paine
to Washington,
10,
May
July 2,
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thomas
Kiley
paine, political
vol.
1784,
ibid.,
ibid.,
Vol. I, pp.
I, pp.
149-150;
153-154;
Vol. I, pp. 419-420;
scientist
63
Franklin
Benjamin
to Paine,
Thomas
Jefferson to Paine,
Monroe
to Paine,
James
18, 1794,
Sept.
24,
1785,
18, 1801,
ibid.,
Sept.
March
vol. V, pp.
ibid.,
157-159.
5. See the colorful
in a novel
vignette
in Howard
otherwise
Tom Paine
Citizen
Fast,
(New
consistently
wide
York: Duell,
Sloan
of the factual
mark
and Pierce),
1944,
p. 8.
6. Joseph
V. Metzgar,
"Thomas
Doctor's
unpublished
Paine:
dissertation,
A Study in Social
The University
and
Intellectual
of New
History",
1965'
Mexico,
p.
27.
7. Richard
A Bibliographical
Paine:
Of Its Publication
(New Haven:
Check
Thomas
Gimbel,
With An Account
List
of Common
Yale University
Sense
1956,
Press),
p. 57.
8. Editor's
"The
notes,
American
Van der Weyde,
Crisis",
Vol.
II, pp.
263-368
and
Vol. Ill, pp. 1-256.
9. Paine,
"Thomas
Paine
to the Citizens
of the Federal
Leaders
15, 1802, Van der Weyde,
10. Editor's note, Van de Weyde,
11. James
T. Boulton,
12. David
Blake:
of His
Own
phy of Thomas
Liberator
13. Letter
14. David
15. Alfred
Freeman
Owen
M.
Review,
17. Sussex
See
Man
Aldridge,
States,"
This
as well
appears
Thomas
Smith,
Paine
p. 170.
Van der Weyde, Vol. V, p.
Vol. X, p. 121.
ibid.,
(New York: Harper, Row and Co.), 1974, p. 301.
The Life of Thomas Paine J. B. Lippin
of Reason:
Thomas Paine, The Apostle
p. 317; John E. Remsburg,
P. Mendum),
Liberty {Boston:].
Kenyon,
"Where
December,
1951,
Paine
Went
of Lewes
1880,
American
Wrong",
Vol. XLV, no. 4, p. 1086,
The Town Book
Society,
Society), Vol. 60, pp. 56-63.
"Case
of the Officers of Excise",
"Now
Paine's
comparison
Van der Weyde,
is the seedtime
Sense, Van der Wyde,
22.
Frank
Paine
Hawke,
for example
Man,
21.
1938,
p. 135.
of the
A Biogra
Rebel.
pp. 61-62.
Political
Science
is one example.
1702-1837
Sussex
(Lewes:
"Introduction".
19. Paine,
20.
(Lon
Interpretation
Edwards,
July 30, 1796,
Record
Record
18. Ibid.,
A. Stoker),
of the United
to the Citizens
1974,
by Gilchrist;
Washington,
1959,
cott), hiladelphia:
of Religious and Political
16. Cecelia
Blake
A Poet's
in Samuel
quoted
York: Praeger),
(New
to George
Empire:
Against
York: Frederick
(New
155; "Letter
Prophet
Life of William
from Paine
Nov.
p. 88.
1963,
Paul),
Times (1954),
Paine
in the earlier
to the
Washington,
in the Age of Wilkes and Burke
of Politics
The Language
V. Erdman,
History
and Particularly
States,
Intelligencer,
Vol. X, p. 95.
Vol. VII, p. 123.
and Kegan
don: Routledge
of the United
The National
Faction",
'Self-Sacrificing'
tance
Vol. VI, pp.
176-177.
of continental
union,
nature
and his essential
and Political
23. Foner,
1973,
sense
the dispelling
Moral
sity Press),
and
Vol. X, pp. 327-346.
Crown
faith and
in Rights of
government
honor,"
Common
Paine,
Vol. II, p. 124.
in Gandhi's
of suffering'
Van der Weyde,
of local
of tapas,
of.
"ceaseless
. . illusions
identity with all other beings",
Thought
of Mahatma
Gandhi
(New
an accep
self-restraint,
by a clear
vision
Raghavan
York:
of his real
N. Iyer, The
Oxford
Univer
p. 235.
p. 192.
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64
Vol. 8, No.
biography
1
24.
Hawke, p. 93.
25. Van der Weyde, Life of Thomas Paine, Vol. I, pp. 107-108.
26. Paine, "Crisis IX", Van der Weyde, Vol. Ill, p. 123.
27. Joseph Dorfman,
"The Economic
of Thomas
Philosophy
Quarterly,
Vol. XIII,
Chalmers,
pp. 76-77.
28. C. A. Beard
of $40,000,000,
Harold
York: Harper
p. 372;
1938,
of Continental
one-tenth
representing
Underwood
and Row),
Faulkner,
1960,
bonds
had
Science
p. 21; Aldridge,
p. 33;
of the United States
an increase
at stake
the taxable
American
Political
Paine",
Hawke,
of the Constitution
Interpretation
that the holders
colonies,
29.
3, Sept.
in An Economic
estimated
value
No.
value
Economic
in
of land
in the
History
(New
p. 147.
p. 64.
Hawke,
30. Ibid., p. 65.
31. Paine,
Age of Reason,
32. Paine,
"African
Van der Weyde,
Vol. VIII,
p. 4.
Van der Weyde, Vol. II, pp. 3-10.
Slavery in America",
on Unhappy
"Reflections
Van der Weyde, Vol. II, pp. 73-78.
Marriages",
on First Principles of Government,
Dissertation
Van der Weyde, Vol. V, p.
33. Paine,
34. Paine,
222.
35. Paine,
Rights of Man,
36. Paine,
Common
37. Many
variations
Moncure
nam's
Van der Weyde,
Sense'
on the theme
Daniel
and Co.),
Maynard
Vol. II, p. 163.
of Paine's
The Life
Conway,
1892,
Sons),
Vol. VI, pp. 263-266.
Van der Weyde,
Vol. II, p. 190;
ability
to synthesize
of Thomas
F. J. Gould,
Paine
Thomas
p. 110; Van der Weyde,
1925,
can
be found,
York:
(New
Paine
G.
Small,
{Boston:
Life of Thomas
cf.
P. Put
Vol. I,
Paine,
p. 185.
38. Paine had given
from an autobiographical
early thought to political
philosophy,
note written in 1793, Age of Reason, Van der Weyde, Vol. VIII, p. 69.
39. Paine knew economic
had outpaced
social and political England,
England
Gould,
outside factions, Mary Agnes Best,
p. 17; he was an unprejudiced
newcomer,
Thomas
Paine:
and Co.),
Prophet
and Martyr
his feeling
of Democracy
(New
York:
Brace
Harcourt,
for British
strategy was a result of Paine's
excise lobbying,
Aldridge,
p. 28; this feeling came also from Paine's
experi
ence in Lewes town government,
Thomas Paine: His Life,
Audrey Wiliamson,
1927,
p. 187;
Work and Times (London:
George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.), 1973, pp. 37-43.
Sense, Van der Weyde, Vol. II, pp.144-145.
41. Joseph Lewis
Thomas Paine: Author of the Declaration
of Independence (New York:
Press Association),
1947. What Lewis does show, as can be seen
Freethought
40.
Paine,
Common
by reading
ideas
Common
are there.
Sense
means
is not an accurate
Lockian
dence:
This
A Study
and then looking
that Becker's
view.
in the History
See
Carl
of Political
at the Declaration,
view
Becker,
Ideas
is that Paine's
that the Declaration
The Declaration
(New
York:
is wholly
of Indepen
Vintage
Books),
1942.
42.
Best, p. 187.
43.
Hawke,
44.
Ibid.,
45.
W. E. Woodward,
p. 109.
p. 133.
Dutton),
46.
Hawke,
1945,
Tom Paine:
p. 94; Foner,
America's
Godfather
1737-1809
(New
York:
pp. 225-226.
p. 29.
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E. P.
THOMAS
Kiley
POLITICAL
PAINE,
47. Van der Weyde, Vol. I, pp. 43-48.
48. See excerpts from Constitutional
Gazette,
cer (1776);
Almon's
24, 1776;
February
Post,
Evening
Pennsylvania
65
SCIENTIST
March
and
1776;
17,
Remembran
the letter from
to Joseph Reed, January, 1776, Van der Weyde,
Washington
38.
Vol.
see also ibid., pp. 36-37,
I,
Paine,
pp. 31-32;
"Crisis III", Van der Weyde, Vol. II. p. 329.
Life of
George
Thomas
49.
Paine,
50. Paine,
"Thoughts
51. Paine,
"Crisis
52. Paine,
"Cupid
on Defensive
53. Paine,
"Duelling",
54. Paine,
"Reflections
55. Paine,
and
and Hymen"
Vol. II, pp. 49-54
Weyde,
pp. 79-80,
57. Paine
states
117-118.
Vol. Ill, pp.
"Reflections
on Unhappy
Van der
Marriages",
and 73-78.
Van der Weyde, Vol. II, pp. 55-63.
Van der Weyde, Vol. II, p. 66.
on Titles",
on Defensive
War", Van der Weyde, Vol. II, p. 83.
"Thoughts
56. Ibid.,
Vol. II, pp. 79-84.
Van der Weyde,
War",
Van der Weyde,
IX",
84.
in "Crisis
most clearly
this principle
Van der Weyde,
IX",
Vol.
Ill,
pp. 117-118.
59. Cf. Phillip
Davidson,
Carolina
The Life of Thomas
61. Thomas
Clio
and the American
Propaganda
versity ofNorth
60.
Vol. II, p. 269.
I", Van der Weyde,
"Crisis
58. Paine,
Paine,
Revolution
Uni
Hill:
(Chapel
1941.
Press),
(1791).
Paine
The Life of Thomas
Rickman,
1819,
Rickman),
(London:
p.
xv.
62. Ibid.
63. Vale,
letters to women
see two of Paine's
p. 52. Also
Van der Weyde,
Jan. 6, 1789,
Vol.
p. xxii.
p. 170; Cheetham,
Van der Weyde,
65. Paine,
Age of Reason,
Vol. II, p. 310.
Ch.
66. Williamson,
67.
"The
Paine,
68. Paine,
70. Letter
from Paine
71. Paine,
"The
72. Paine,
"An
Vol. VIII,
Essay
of God",
Staunton,
January
Van der Weyde,
3, 1803,
who
Phillips,
probably
Paine
Van der Weyde, Vol. IX, pp. 6-7.
Vol. IX, pp. 191-203.
assisted
Fulton
with priority
learned
was one of Paine's
patent
specification
about
friends."
in his steamboat
in the application
Paine's
experiments
for iron bridge,
August
from Fulton,
in this direction
labors
Van der Weyde,
Life of Thomas
28,
1788,
on the
to navigation.
of steam
Paine,
Vol. I,
Van der Weyde,
Vol.
1-6.
experimental
Charles
C.
neers, quoted
76. Paine
Vol.
Van der Weyde,
on Dream",
credits
had
V, pp.
"Paine's
ibid.,
Vol. X., pp. 277-279.
pp. 188-189.
75.
III",
Van der Weyde, Vol. IX, pp. 61-66.
Van der Weyde, Vol. II, pp. 25-33.
Hints",
to Sir George
Existence
Thames,
74. Paine,
1802,
Smyth,
84; "Crisis
pp. 70-71,
Van der Weyde,
Fever",
ofLlandaff",
and Entertaining
Richard
who
178-184,
189-215.
X, pp.
He
of the Yellow
to the Bishop
"Reply
"Useful
"Sir
to Kitty Nicholson,
and to Lady
2.
Cause
69. Paine,
73.
friends,
Vol. V, pp. 301-313.
Ibid.,
64. Gould,
I pp.
bridge
Schreider,
became
in Williamson,
went with Henry
the prototype
Presidential
Laurens,
address,
of the modern
steel arch
American
Society
a loan
from France
of Civil
. . .",
Engi
p. 106.
Jr., to negotiate
in February,
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
66
and later in the winter
1881,
on British
Court
affairs during
of St. James,
of 1788-89
a long
was Jefferson's
interval
Van der Weyde,
between
of information
source
American
Life of Thomas
1
Vol. 8, No.
biography
ministers
Vol. I, pp.
Paine,
to the
121-123,
193-213.
77. Paine
came
in 1774
to America
business,
personal
for personal
and he returned
in 1787
he went to France
reasons,
in 1802,
to America
for personal
again,
on
rea
sons.
78. Paine,
"Crisis
79. Paine,
"Thomas
Van der Weyde,
XIII",
Paine
Vol. Ill, p. 246.
to the Citizens
of the United
81. Paine,
"Letter
82.
"Crisis
to the Abbe
VIII",
83.
Paine,
"The
84.
Paine,
"Society
85. Editor's
for Political
"Laws
and Regulations",
88. Rights of Man
Vol. Ill,
in Van der Weyde,
Vol. V,
p. 113; Common
Van der Wyde,
ibid.,
Sense,
Vol. II,
Vol. II, p. 21.
Van der Weyde,
Inquiries",
Vol. IV, p. 312.
Vol. IV, p. 311.
Van der Weyde,
is the classic
Vol. IV, p. 198.
Vol. VI, p. 231.
ibid.,
in America",
Magazine
note, Van der Weyde,
86. Ibid.
Van der Weyde,
Raynal",
Van der Wyde,
131, 179; Rights of Man,
pp.
87.
Intelli
150-151.
pp.
Paine,
The National
States",
gencer, Van der Weyde, Vol. X, pp. 95-96.
80. Letter from Paine to George Washington,
July 30, 1796,
statement
Vol. IV, pp. 313-315.
of a generous
view
of human
and the
nature
Van der Weyde, Vol. VI and VII; Dissertation
on First
Principles of Government, which Paine wrote to defend the 1792 French pro
he had helped write as a member of the committee
on the
posed constitution
corresponding
politics,
constitution
of the French Convention
of 1792, is his most concise statement,
Van der Weyde, Vol. V, pp. 207-242.
89. Lincoln
considers
Paine's
distinction
as a political scientist in eighteenth
century
terms his concern with the technique
as opposed
to just the idea of govern
ment.
90. Thinkers
Some
Lincoln,
Anthony
1763-1800
(Cambridge
Political
University
and
Social
Ideas
Dissent
of English
p. 119.
1938,
Press),
like Price
embraced
an absolute
sociometric
evalua
good but eschewed
like the utilitarians,
sunk into a
p. 108. Those who quantified,
calculus
which forced out that which can not be counted,
cf. John
tion, Lincoln,
hedonistic
91.
Stuart
Mill,
Stuart
Mill
York:
quantify
and
Vol. VII,
pp. 87-94.
Paine,
92. Paine,
"African
Answer
Bantam
Sense,
The Affairs
S.
Press),
1945,
Van
Dissertation
Foner,
199.
Rights
Paine
of Man,
Works of John
was
able
to both
der Weyde,
Van
Vol. II, pp. 3-10.
of Pennsylvania
The Complete
on the Present
Situation
Writings of Thomas
Paine
Vol. II, p. 277.
der Weyde,
of the Bank;
e.g.
Essential
ed.,
p.
Van der Weyde,
to the People
to Four Questions
15-40;
values,
in America",
Philip
Lerner,
1971,
Press),
to absolute
Address
Affairs",
Common
ment;
pp.
Slavery
York: Citadel
(New
93. Paine,
adhere
"A Serious
of Their
in Max
"Utilitarianism"
ew
Vol.
II,
and Paper
on the Lesgislative
on First
p.
Money,
144;
Dissertations
ibid.,
Vol.
and Executive
Principles
Powers,
of Government,
on Govern
IV, pp.
219-310;
ibid.,
ibid.,
Vol. V,
Vol.
V, pp.
207-242.
94.
Paine,
"Crisis
nary",
Island",
ibid.,
VIII",
pp.
Philip
Van der Weyde,
125-158;
S. Foner,
"Crisis
Vol.
XII",
Ill,
ibid.,
pp.
101-114;
pp. 219-238;
"Crisis
"Letter
Extraordi
to Rhode
Vol. II, p. 345.
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THOMAS
Kiley
95.
Paine,
on the Rubicon",
"Prospects
time
VII,
in "Letter
Compact"
67
Van der Weyde, Vol. IV, pp. 317-377;
to the People
of the United
States",
Agrarian Justice, Van der Weyde,
Ch. V, pp. 1-114.
97. Ibid.,
Vol. VI, pp. 31-32,
98.
Part II, Ch.s
Ibid.,
VII
SCIENTIST
"Mari
April,
ibid., Vol. X, 161-168.
1803,
96. Paine,
POLITICAL
PAINE,
205-206'
Vol. X, pp.
1-38;
also Rights of Man,
Vol.
305-324.
288,
III & IV.
99. Ibid., pp. 305-306.
100.
Ibid.,
pp. 306-313.
101.
Ibid.,
pp.
145-212.
102.
Ibid.,
Ch.
IV, pp. 76, 119.
103.
Ibid.,
pp. 205-206.
104.
Paine,
Common
105.
Paine,
"Prospects
106.
Paine,
The Decline
Van der Weyde, Vol. II, pp. 150-161.
on the Rubicon",
Van der Weyde, Vol. IV, pp. 357-362.
Sense,
and Fall
of the English
System of Finance,
Van der Weyde,
Vol.
V, pp. 255-300.
107.
Paine,
and
"Peace,
the Newfoundland
Van der Weyde,
Fisheries",
Vol.
IV, pp.
1-42.
108.
Paine's
"Letter
grounds
to the Abbe
ted that the Revolution
pp.
109.
Paine,
Man,
"Prospects
ibid.,
"On
the Legislative
Paine,
"The
Constitution
112.
Paine
116.
on historical
in America
by a 'slight
tax',
Van der Weyde,
p. 26; Agrarian
Paine,
115.
caused
on the Rubicon",
Vol. VII,
111.
113.
was
The Revolution
and sociological
(1782);
Paine
Van der Weyde,
dispu
Vol.
IV,
111-212.
110.
114.
was an answer
Raynal"
to the book by Raynal,
Justice, ibid.,
and Executive
of 1795",
Powers",
Van der Weyde,
Vol.
IV, p. 323;
Vol. X, pp.
Rights
Van der Weyde, Vol. V, p. 30.
Vol. V, pp. 245-246.
on the grounds of voting analysis, show
argued for unicameral
legislatures
ing how a minority in a two-house system can defeat a majority, "On the Legis
lative and Executive
Van der Weyde, Vol. V, pp. 15-40.
Powers",
Van der Weyde, Vol. VII, p. 91.
of the Yellow Fever",
Van der Weyde, Vol. X, pp. 273-287.
C. B. MacPherson,
The Political
Individualism
Theory of Possessive
(London:
Oxford University
Press), 1970.
Paine,
Rights of Man,
Paine,
"The
Paine,
Rights of Man,
Cause
Van der Weyde,
of
1-37.
Vol. VI, p. 69.
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