Slaughter, Ed., Commonsense And Related Writings By Thomas Paine

Abstract

Thomas Paine occupies an odd, somewhat uncomfortable, place in the history of the American Revolution. In some ways he is the man who came to dinner and stayed, and after leaving, he returned, and then stayed even longer-never moving on intellectually or politically as many other Revolutionaries did. Paine is part of events that matter a great deal during the American ( and French) Revolution, but not fully part of them. Not quite a founding father by most accountings, he is much more than an observer of events-he made a tremendously important contribution to the success of the Revolutionary cause with Common Sense and his other writings at a critical moment in America's struggle for independence, which everyone acknowledges.