The author acknowledges Burke to have been a ‘great man’ but one who was ‘scarcely rational about human rights’, who resorts to sneering when he fails to have better of an argument. ‘This man’ concludes the author, ‘must have had a large mental block’.
BOOK REVIEW: Debate Aborted. Burke, Priestley. Paine And The Revolution In France Read Post »
Paine’s deep relationship with the Bonnevilles lasted for more than 15 years. This essay studies Paine’s time with the Bonnevilles in Paris during the six years he lived with them, from 1797 to 1802, as Napoleon Bonaparte began his ascent to power and U.S.-France relationships floundered.
The Bonnevilles: Thomas Paine’s “Family” Part One: Read Post »
Paine—as an English revolutionary and an actor, witness, and interpreter of the Age of Revolutions—developed a democratic vision during the period of the Convention initiated on 9 Thermidor (1794-1795) that distanced him from both Jacobin formulations and practices, and from legislations and speeches by Thermidorian deputies.
Thomas Paine and the French Revolution Read Post »
I believe it’s no accident that current social beliefs and trends uncannily reflect those in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many Americans still believe that assistance to the poor encourages sloth. Meanwhile, there is little interest in funding public K-12 education or in making higher education more affordable.
Rights of Man is More Relevant Now than Ever Read Post »
Lukin identified the 32 books most often banned worldwide. Two of those books, Rights of Man and The Age of Reason, were authored by Paine. As true from Common Sense forward, governments purporting to support democracy and free speech will resist the radical impact of Paine’s thoughts.
Banning Thomas Paine Read Post »
An incorrigible Europhile for much of my youth, I was not terribly interested in Thomas Paine. The fact that Ronald Reagan was an admirer of Paine didn’t help either. But then I realized that to understand William Blake’s revolutionary sentiment, I had to read Rights of Man
My Discovery and Love of Thomas Paine Read Post »
Although the second-rank Girondins who remained alive were restored, like him, to their seats in the Convention in 1794, and were influential in producing the directorial constitution of the Year III, that attempt to get back to the principles of 1789 was no more successful than the first revolutionary constitution
Thomas Paine And The Girondins Read Post »
The author of Rights of Man suffered the condescension of posterity in many ways. He had known virtually every leading contemporary political figure in America, France and England, and yet not one of them publicly praised him after his death.
Democracy, War And The Rights Of Man Read Post »
In 1792, Rickman met Thomas Paine with whom he had frequently corresponded. They soon became firm friends and Paine benefited from Rickman’s knowledge of languages and classical education. Paine lived with Rickman and his second wife and whilst there he completed the second part of Rights of Man.
Thomas “Clio” Rickman, Poet, Bookseller And Radical Publisher Read Post »
Basically, like all the greatest writers on liberty, Paine was a humanitarian. Freedom, in Paine’s view, could not be dissociated from political morality, and he sounded a warning note which still carries a message.
Thomas Paine and His Radical Contemporaries Read Post »
