FAQs Archives

What is Paine‘s position on the separation of church and state?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Since Paine believed that all organized religion was a tool to monopolize power and profit and to oppress the people, his belief in the separation of church and state was vehement. Witnessing first hand England's use of the church to wield the king's power, he learned early on to keep religion out of government and maintained that position throughout his life. He influenced many Founders, including Jefferson, during the Revolution, and his writings led to this basic tenet in the American creed. Simply put: Paine emphasized reason as the means to effective government, and showed in The Age of Reason – Part I and elsewhere that organized religion was man-made and unreasonable.

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Did Paine die penniless?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Like the "disheveled drunk" slander, this is not supported by fact. This slander was part of the propaganda to destroy his reputation because his enemies could not destroy the content and influence of his writings. The farm he owned in New Rochelle was substantial, and he rented it out for cultivation. The money in the bank, and stock he owned in a bank, and the farm were given to the Bonnevilles, who later divided it up and sold it. He could afford rent and care at the end of his life to the same degree that most could, including dedicated friends to look after him, but he ran short of cash now and again. This slander is part of the cruelty shown towards him, as Paine refused payments for his works to maintain his objectivity, and his refusal of riches was turned upside down to attack him.

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What was Paine’s role in the American Revolution?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Paine was the only leading Founder who served in both the military and the government during the Revolution. But more than that, it was Paine's Common Sense that transformed a tax rebellion into a social and political revolution. Paine provided the ideology of the American Revolution: an end to monarchy, establish a system of representative democracy, and the establishment of an independent and free America. As the Revolution faltered, in December 1776, Paine wrote the American Crisis and turned the tide and filled the ranks of the Continental Army, where he was serving as an officer, and was the voice of the Americans throughout the Revolution in the other Crisis papers. He later became the secretary to committee on foreign affairs, and personally brought the crucial support of France into the fight.

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Did Paine write these quotes?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

The following quotes are NOT from Thomas Paine:

“Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” This quote does not exist in the Paine corpus, and seems to have its origin in the 20th century.

“Reputation is what other people think of us. Character is what God knows of us.” This quote is from a book by Shannon L. Alder.

“The government that governs best governs least.” This is from Henry David Thoreau, who borrowed it from the cover of the journal Democratic Review, 1837-1859.

“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” This is from Edward Abbey in A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, pg.19. And the actual quote is “A patriot must be ready to defend his country from his government.” The version presented here is the one used on the Internet.

“Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property… Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.” This quote is in Thoughts on Defensive War in Foner’s Complte Works of Thomas Paine, however there is a question, at this point, as to whether this is Paine’s writing.

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What was Paine’s role in the French Revolution?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Paine played a similar role in the French Revolution to that in the American Revolution. His Common Sense was translated into French and was widely read, which greatly spurred on the forces against monarchy and for democracy. He wrote Rights of Man in defense of the French Revolution against the attacks of England, and he was greeted in France as a hero and elected to the Assembly. There he took a leading role in writing the French Constitution and fought for universal suffrage. But he lost that fight, was sentenced to death, and barely escaped execution. Rights of Man became the vehicle which spread the ideals of the French Revolution around the world. Many of his most significant and impactful works were done in France in the 1790s.

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Did Thomas Paine live in Bordentown?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Bordentown is the only place in the world where Paine bought property. He was given a farm in New Rochelle, NY by the State Assembly, but never chose a place to buy outside of Bordentown. The house he actually bought, along with a piece of land across Crosswicks Creek, was on Church St. W. It was moved sometime in the late 19th century from the corner of Farnsworth down the block of Church St W. a couple of lots, and is still there. The plaque on Farnsworth is incorrect as it names the present structure at the NW corner of Farnsworth and Church W as the house. However, Paine never lived in the house he bought! He "gave" it to a widow of the war to live rent free, and then rented it to a ship Captain and his wife. He eventually sold it in 1803 along with the land across the creek. Paine actually lived in Bordentown between 1778 and 1787 (one of the longest residences in his life) with his close friend Joseph Kirkbride at the foot of Farnsworth overlooking the river (the property is at 2 Farnsworth). He had a room on the second floor of a large house, and it was there he worked on his famous bridge. A statue of Paine was erected in 1996 near this property where his horse Button grazed at the end of Prince St. This house became a hotel and then the first female college in the country. It burned to the ground around 1900, and the current house there was built soon after.

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What was Thomas Paine’s stance on slavery?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Paine was a staunch abolitionist despite the fact that he seldom wrote on the subject. The biographies on Paine are in error when they attribute “African Slavery in America” and “A Serious Thought” to Paine, and Paine was not a founding member of the first abolitionist organization established in Philadelphia in 1775. However Paine always called for the abolition of slavery in personal corresondence and was close friends with many of the leading abolitionists of his day. Recent discoveries in the research into Paine’s undiscovered works has revealed more abolitionist tracts and letters, and the influential pamphlet written in London, “Old Truths and Established Facts”, to get the abolitionist Slave Act passed has been confirmed that it was written by Paine and Joseph Priestley. See, for example, To Benjamin Rush March 16, 1790. Also see Mariam Touba’s essay.

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Did Thomas Paine make corsets for a living?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Paine was trained at an early age to follow his father's trade as a staymaker. The first biography of Paine by Oldys (who was paid by an English Lord to slander Paine) characterized Paine as "corset-maker" to deride him. This is one of the many slanders spread to this day to discredit him. Paine trained as a teenager to be a staymaker but worked only a couple of years at it after returning from sea as a privateer at age 20.

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What was Thomas Paine’s stance on Women’s Rights?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Paine was a strong advocate for women's equal rights, but he did not promote it publicly. His early writings reflect sympathy for women's social, economic and political rights. He collaborated with Catherine Macaulay in his early writing career in the 1760s, and he associated and worked closely with Mary Wollstonecraft in England in the early 1790's while he wrote Rights of Man, and she wrote the feminist manifesto Vindication of the Rights of Women. It was a subject often put aside by the democratic movement in the 18th century which tried to rally the working men towards revolutionary change, and many, including Paine, held personal beliefs in favor of women's equality, but feared it would sidetrack the main thrust of changing governmental structures.

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Did Thomas Paine support the U.S. Constitution?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

He favored the idea of the Constitution to establish the government (it was his idea in 1783), but he strongly argued against the conservative and elitist nature of it. He attacked two major areas: a single executive, and a two-body legislature, one being smaller and more powerful than the other. He favored only a representative legislative body based on increased suffrage not based on property, which should be divided into two, then have separate votes taken and combine the total. He scoffed at the idea that 50 privileged men could defeat the will of the hundreds of other legislators. He also believed that the real strength of the Constitution lay in the ability to rewrite it at the will of the people. So he was no originalist. (See "Constitutional Reform" under Chronology). Paine was a founder of the modern concept of constitutions, where the people, not the government, create a constitution from which the government if formed. The government should have no role in the creation or amendment of the constitution. This concept is rarely followed, which has gutted the concept.

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Where are Paine’s remains, and does he have a gravesite?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

Thomas Paine is the only Founder without a gravesite. The story of his remains reflect the collossal life and works of Paine himself and his legacy. He was first buried in New Rochelle, NY on his farm, after the Quakers refused him, in a town very hostile to him. A Paine admirer, William Cobbett, himself a democratic advocate from England, saw the disrespect Paine received where he was buried and decided to dig him up and take him to England to help spur the movement for democracy there. He did that in 1819. Over the years, the bones were split up; there were unverified rumors that some of the bones were cut into buttons and sold to finance the revolution (but more buttons were sold than could have come from any 10 bodies). There are rumors of a leg bone in the wall of a tavern in England, some pieces were claimed in Europe, and it is probable that the skull has been located in Wales (and is now in Australia) but no testing has yet confirmed this. We do know that a piece of the brain, and hair locks, from the body were secured by our Association. But on the whole, Paine was scattered throughout the world and has no grave. Some believe this is fitting to the man's legacy, but Paine wanted specific gravesite arrangements which were never met. Our Association hopes to recreate this gravesite where he wanted it in the future with the few remains that exist. For full details see the article here.

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Does Thomas Paine have any descendants?

Thomas Paine Historical Association — Mon, 05 May 2025 07:29:40 +0000

No. Paine was an only child, and he never had children (that survived). There have been several claims or beliefs from people thinking they are descendants because of similar names, or family mythologies. But none have borne out.

The claims center around three possibilities (all of which have been proven false): first, that from Paine’s first wife, who died in childbirth, the child lived – but records show otherwise: both she and the child died; second, that Paine had siblings from his father’s side, but no proof of that has been established. Even if established that would not be direct descendancy; and third, that Thomas Bonneville, the son of Madame Bonneville and her husband and comrade of Paine, Nicholas, was instead Paine’s son – but Madame Bonneville filed suit against the author of that (an early biography written to slander Paine) and won based on court evidence close to that time period.

Other claims come from a confusion of the name Paine, some confusing Robert Treat Paine with him, who was, instead, not only unrelated, but a political enemy. However, there are probably hundreds of thousands of very distant cousins, as his aunts or uncles would have produced children. So family mythologies are probably based on that.

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