Thomas Paine Research Paper

Even over two hundred years after his death, Thomas Paine is still almost universally known for his ability to stir up controversy. Beginning at the infancy of the American Revolution with The American Crisis essay series and the immortal Common Sense and spanning through the French Revolution with Rights of Man, Paine had a knack for making many uneasy with his progressive, anti-monarchial political views. In fact, Paine’s works were perceived as being so offensive to the British government, that they were completely banned in the country up until the early 20th century. As radical as Paine was for his time, however, The Age of Reason today remains by far the most controversial of Paine’s many works. One of the more fascinating analyses

A trademark of Thomas Paine as a writer was how influential he was in changing the public opinion by maintaining the perfect balance of logic and emotion in his political works. For example, Common Sense and The American Crisis are credited for converting countless unsure American colonists into staunch supporters of the independence movement. Likewise, The Rights of Man, arguing that monarchies need to be done away with, gained enthusiastic supporters in both France and England. Had the British government not swiftly placed a strict ban on the pamphlet, it very well could have incited third major revolution there. In contrast to these previous writings by Paine, however, The Age of Reason gained very few fans when it was first published. It almost seems as if Paine was writing it more for himself than to please any particular audience. The pamphlet was not nearly as influential as other Paine writings, either, gaining very few converts to deism. In fact, The Age of Reason instead garnered mostly negative responses by critics and united historically rival Christian sects in their defenses of