Perhaps I might say right here that this is a national loss and a deplorable lack of understanding concerning the man who first proposed and first wrote those impressive words, `the United States of America’. But it is hardly strange.
The Philosophy Of Paine Read Post »
Shortly after his arrival in Philadelphia, however, Paine published an essay on ‘the Life and Death of Lord Clive’ which was highly critical of the type of ‘nabob’ whose election campaign he had supported in Shoreham. Clive’s conduct in India had been investigated by parliament.
The Role Of The East India Company In Thomas Paine’s Radicalisation Read Post »
English radical poetry has a long and honourable tradition dating back to at least the 17th century. Paine played a small but significant role in this tradition. He was a great influence on the Chartist movement which arose in the 1830s to demand the vote for working men.
Poetry For The People Read Post »
How dared Thomas Paine, a man whose formal education had ended at thirteen, who had failed as a skilled craftsman, as a teacher, as a shopkeeper, as a street preacher, as a petty customs official in the Excise, dismissed and a debtor and bankrupt, even dare to think about government?
On the one hand there is Karl Marx, a Communist and political exile in London, on the other Charles Bradlaugh, who rose from humble origins to become the leading nineteenth century advocate of Secularism and a MP for Northampton. Both were political giants.
BOOK REVIEW: Bradlaugh Contra Marx, Radicalism And Socialism In The First International Read Post »
This study of political and social developments from the birth of the USA up until the Bush administration is a challenging and controversial being an evaluation of the nation’s history and how it went wrong and departed from the ideals of some of its founding fathers.
BOOK REVIEW: Where The USA Went Wrong, A Study Of The United States Empire Read Post »
Read “The Citizen Tom Paine” about Thomas Paine, a stirring call to arms for the democracy lovers worldwide. Explore the lyrics of Martin Green in this revolutionary poem about a man who galvanized patriots and championed liberty and independence against British rule and much besides.
A Poem: Citizen Tom Paine Read Post »
My first serious secondhand book was the 1791 edition of Rights of Man published out of his own pocket by Thomas Paine. It cost me three pounds. As a student, I had to pay by instalments, to the bookseller’s annoyance.
Thomas Paine Versus Ted Valiance Read Post »
There has been much speculation on what became of Thomas Paine’s first wife, Mary Lambert, after they moved from Sandwich to Margate in April 1760. George Chalmers, in his hostile life of Paine published in 1791, was the first to speculate on it.
The Fate Of Paine’s First Wife: A Note Read Post »
Dr Richard Price was a man of many parts: preacher, moral philosopher, commentator on actuarial and public finance, and ardent campaigner for civil liberties. This essay focuses, for the most part, on his latter activities. One of the most influential radical thinkers of his day, though now little known beyond historians.
Richard Price, Dd., Fsa: Champion Of Civil Liberty Read Post »
Anyone who looks at William Hone’s life in the round will discover some failings, notably a lack of a consistent sense of direction. His radical period was short lived, and he had neither the literary genius of Thomas Paine nor Henry Hunt’s rapacity to rouse an audience.
William Hone: The Confused Radical Read Post »
We remember Paine now, as radicals did in the nineteenth century, because he was distinctive — there have been few, if any, English political figures whose republicanism has been so strident and yet who have managed to communicate such a radical ideology (in an English context) to such a wide audience.
Thomas Paine and Monarchical Republicanism Read Post »
