Paine, Thomas (1737-1809), Anglo-American political philosopher, whose writings influenced both the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1799).
Paine was born in Thetford, Norfolk, England. At the age of 19 he went to sea. Paine returned shortly to England, eventually becoming an excise officer. He was dismissed from the job in 1772 for publishing a document calling for an increase in wages as a means of reducing corruption in government service. In London Paine met American statesman Benjamin Franklin, and on Franklin's advice, he immigrated to Philadelphia in 1774, becoming a magazine editor. In 1776 Paine anonymously published his most famous work, the pamphlet Common Sense, which called for American independence from Great Britain. The popular pamphlet helped encourage the issuance of the Declaration of Independence six months later. Paine wrote a series of pamphlets between 1776 and 1783 entitled The American Crisis, which George Washington, then commander in chief of the Continental Army, ordered read to his troops for inspiration.
His book The Age of Reason was published in parts in 1794, in 1795, and in 1807. Paine's writing was misinterpreted as a promotion of atheism and resulted in his gaining ill repute as an atheist. In 1802 Paine returned to the United States and found that people there had a negative opinion of him as well. He died in New York City and was buried on his farm in New Rochelle, New York.