Thomas Paine Life Work and Accomplishments

This indictment of the British crown, this disrobing of imperial rule (reminiscent of one of the last scenes in the Wizard of Oz) were the words of one Thomas Paine. Himself a subject of England and of very modest means, this rabble-rouser extraordinaire would in time prove a pivotal figure in the formation of “a more perfect union.”

Political Activism

As an English-born American brought to the colonies at the behest of then governor of Massachusetts Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine began to ramp up his political activism against the much derided rulers who wielded their power on the continent from an ocean away. There was a burning within him, and many of the free-thinkers that heeded his words, that the so-called divine rights that allowed kings to do as their whims commanded were fraudulent. He felt that all human beings, regardless of class or station, should be given basic rights that should remain unalienable. Sound familiar? He believed that so long as one was educated, property owner or not, the course of human events could be altered for the good of all. “We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” he was quoted as saying.

Common Sense

For eight straight years dating back to 1765, the British parliament was, by all intents and purposes, attempting to bilk the American colonies with a litany of oppressive tax measures in order to get out of massive debt and in order to enrich the crown. Unrest in the colonies was threatening to boil over, due to the fact that they were being taxed and yet were not afforded the power of the vote in parliament as a concession. Taxation without representation. Many of the articles that were passed in England upon the colonies were summarily repealed as the threat of a full-blown insurrection loomed largely. However, in 1773, the passing of the Tea Act, a law that demanded a 3 penny tax per pound on America’s drink of choice, was the match that ultimately lit the fuse. The amount wasn’t necessarily prohibitive, but the colonists viewed it as an arrogant display of England’s sovereign power. To make matters even worse, shipments of tea from the East India Company could not be levied an import tax and it was financially depleting the mom and pop shops in Boston and bankrupting them. The avarice and greed of the British government could not and would not be tolerated.