Thomas Paine

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Thomas Paine was an Anglo-American political philosopher whose writings had great influence during two disturbances in the 18th century: the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
He remained poor throughout his life. At the age of 13 he began working for his father, and at 19 he went to sea. Paine returned to England shortly thereafter and moved through various jobs, eventually becoming an excise officer. As an officer he had to collect taxes from smugglers he tracked down. He was dismissed in 1772 for publishing a document calling for an increase in wages as a means of reducing corruption in government service. His personal life did not fare much better; his first wife died and he later legally separated from his second wife. In London Paine met and befriended Benjamin Franklin, who was serving as a representative of the American colonies in Great Britain. On Franklin's advice, and equipped with letters of introduction from him, Paine immigrated to Philadelphia in 1774. He became an editor on the Pennsylvania Magazine and also anonymously published writings, including poetry. One of his publications was the article "African Slavery in Americ!
a," in which he condemned the practice of slavery. Paine published his most famous work, the 50-page pamphlet, Common Sense, on January 10, 1776. In a dramatic, rhetorical style, the document asserted that the American colonies received no advantage from Great Britain, which was exploiting them, and that every consideration of common sense called for the colonies to become independent and establish a republican government of their own. The document went on to criticize the monarchy as an institution. Published anonymously, the pamphlet sold more than 500,000 copies and helped encourage, with comments such as "The birthday of a new world is at hand," the writing of the Declaration of Independence six months later. Paine wrote a series of pamphlets between 1776 and 1783 e...