Our collection of articles, records and reviews about Thomas Paine Historiography.
In 1965, a noted historian, Forest MacDonald, wrote a textbook on the creation of the Republic, E Pluribus Unum. He is known for his rationalizing of slavery, ultra-conservatism, and apologist for all things Southern. But he got one thing right.
The 19th century history books were steeped in prejudice against Paine, driven by political and theistical bias, largely rooted in fake news, incomplete facts, and the myth of the founding. That myth of the founding puts the Federalist Party as the Founding Party.
There is a preponderance of faulty historiography about Paine, and this is why our Association was founded to correct it. Bernard Bailyn produced a book in the late 1760s, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, which represents the conservative view of history.
Gilbert Vale was an early supporter of Thomas Paine, first in England, then in America in the early 19th century. He was a freethought publisher and writer, and through his work he reached the freethought and progressive segments of the American people.
Hitchens was a man of many unresolved contradictions. How anyone could find Mrs Thatcher sexy is beyond me. And there are far better examples of the distillers’ art than Walker’s Black Label. But if his writing about Paine encourages people to read Paine’s works he will have earned his redemption.
We thank Paul Myles for the transcript of this important letter, now in the British Library, from the government agent J. Mason, to J.B. Surges. an under secretary for foreign affairs, which demolishes the constantly repeated mantra of Paine having fled the country to escape arrest.
By Kenneth. W. Burchell “This is no more than a say so of Jonathan Steadfast, who says it because it suits him to say it.” An Enemy to Monopolies and Inconsistencies [Thomas Paine], “Jonathan Steadfast and his Book” in the Mercury [Elisha Babcock], 27 September 1804. “As censure is but awkwardly softened by apology, I
The author starts his search in New York, initially tracking down the house that Thomas Paine died in and visiting various other sites associated with his last days, before his burial at his farm in New Rochelle.
Am I being harsh? Well I certainly hope that I’m not being the only one finding errors in Mr. O’Brien’s little piece. If so I’m sure to be tarred and feathered very soon; the Christians are so very “open minded” about every man having the right to his own opinion.
This short essay is unquestionably a major contribution to Paine studies, though likely on the controversial side in that it casts Paine in a role few of his admirers would have thought possible, for it is the belief of the author that Paine was ‘an undercover agent’ for George III.
BOOK REVIEW: Thomas Paine: The Case Of The King Of England And His Officers Of Excise Read Post »
Moncure Daniel Conway is owed a debt by all those who admire Thomas Paine, for it was Conway who first put him on the biographical map by compiling a comprehensive biography which at one stroke made all previous works of a similar character.
Rivers had issued several anonymous pamphlets, including a sermon on ‘The Gospel a Perfect Law of Liberty’ and a sermon against Popery. He was a frequent contributor to the World newspaper and the Sunday Recorder To this day, other details of his life remain an unsolved mystery.
David Rivers’ Little – Known Memoir Of Thomas Paine Read Post »
