Thomas Paine

Common Sense, Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine

English-American political activist, author, political theorist and revolutionary, Thomas Paine was one of the most influential figures during the period leading up to the American Revolution. Through his hugely influential pamphlet "Common Sense" and the series of pamphlets known collectively as "The American Crisis" he successfully advocated for colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Those works are included in this collection along with "Rights of Man", "The Age of Reason", and "Agrarian Justice". In "Rights of Man" Thomas Paine responds to Edmund Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France" arguing that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard its people and their natural rights. Paine became notorious for his "The Age of Reason," in which he promotes reason and freethinking over the institutionalized doctrine of the Christian religion. Finally in his pamphlet "Agrarian Justice" he discusses the origins of property and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. In this edition we see a comprehensive collection of Paine's writings providing a window into his logic which heavily influenced early American political theory.