Thomas Paine

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Thomas Paine

• A Deistic World View
• American Literature I

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Thomas Paine 1737-1809
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• Paine was the author of two of the most popular
  books in 18th century America.
• He was born in England, the son of a Quaker
  father and an Anglican mother,
• He did not come to America until he was
  thirty-seven years old.

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• Before Paine many colonists
• hoped to reach a peaceful agreement with Great
  Britain that would keep America in the British
  Empire.
• Then, in January of 1776, a pamphlet written by
  Paine appeared in Philadelphia bookstores.

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• Common Sense quickly became a best seller.
• Most political writers of the time used scholarly
  opinions and complex legal terms to make their
  points.
• Paine, however, used plain language and stirring
  phrases

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• "These are the times that try mens souls. The
  summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in
  this crisis, shrink from the service of his
  country but he that stands it NOW, deserves the
  love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like
  Hell, is not easily conquered yet we have this
  consolation with us, that the harder the
  conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

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Points to Remember

• Paine was a Deist.
• He opposed hereditary monarchy.
• He was a champion of human rights.
• He despised tyranny in any form.
• His Deistic ideas pointed the way toward the
  Romantic conception of God.

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His Views on Religion

• God is not to be found in Revealed religion.
• God reveals himself in the natural workings of
  the universephysical laws.
• The Judeo-Christian tradition and its prophets
  are creations to control society.