Thomas Paine

1737 – 1809

Thomas Paine was an English-born American Founding Father whose 1776 pamphlet Common Sense framed the Patriot argument for independence in plain prose that sold hundreds of thousands of copies and decisively shifted public opinion toward revolution. His follow-up series The American Crisis sustained Continental Army morale through the war's darkest moments, while later works like Rights of Man and The Age of Reason advanced Enlightenment arguments for human equality and freedom of conscience. His radicalism left him reviled in his lifetime but enshrined in posterity as one of the foremost voices for democratic self-government.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM