Thomas Paine

Common sense and other writings is a 2005 compilation of writings by Thomas Paine edited by Joyce Appleby.

Rights of Man presents an impassioned defense of the Enlightenment principles of freedom and equality that Thomas Paine believed would soon sweep the world. He boldly claimed, "From a small spark, kindled in America, a flame has arisen, not to be extinguished. Without consuming ... it winds its progress from nation to …

I put the following work under your protection. It contains my opinion upon Religion. You will do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the Right of every man to his opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself …

The publication of Thomas Paine's incendiary pamphlet, Common Sense, in January of 1776, proved the tipping point for America's Revolutionary War. Its eloquent and reasoned argument about the inherent unfairness of monarchic succession, and its catalog of abuses by the English Crown against the colonies, was crucial …