Thomas Paine

Born in Thetford, England on the 29th of January, 1737, Thomas Paine met Benjamin Franklin in London in 1774. After moving to America, he published Common Sense (in 1776) which strongly defended America's independence from Britain. He later wrote The Crisis, an extremely popular and influential pamphlet.

Paine traveled to France, where he also supported the French Revolution, but returned to America in 1802. He died in New York City, aged 72, largely abandoned by his friends (and decried by the American public) because of a change in his religious views.

Credits

Image - A 1793 engraving by William Sharp (after a portrait by George Romney, painted in 1792).

U.S. National Archives, image 28/4/28-0372a.