During my interview with Mr.Paine at his farm in N.Y. , I asked him to tell me a little about himself. He was born in 1737 in Thetford, Norfolk, England. In 1774 he moved to The New World on recommendation from Benjamin Franklin. With his writings (including the widely read pamphlet Common Sense) he convinced many Americans that the colonies no longer needed the British to protect and rule them. He wrote many pamphlets about the revolution and then turned to writing about the French Revolution. Along with the profession of writing he owned a farm in New Rochelle .N.Y. and was an inventor of some very interesting creations.
I asked him a few questions about his life and his involvement in the American revolution.
Journalist Rustus: What influenced you to write and express your feelings and thoughts about the Revolutionary War?
Paine: I first started to develop views on justice as a child when I heard a mob jeering and attacking people who had been punished. My Quaker father had an impact on my perspective of being just and lawful. My thoughts on the American Revolution were influenced mainly by the French writer Voltaire, the British philosopher John Locke, The Religious Society of Friends (a Quaker organization), and the French philosopher Charles de Secondat Montesquieu.
Journalist Rustus: Why did you write about the revolution(s) when you knew you might have been arrested?
Paine: I knew I might have been arrested or even executed for my writings, but accepted the fact and continued to write. It was only fair that the Americans, and the French should receive freedom and/or justice. I was arrested for my thoughts on the revolutions, and put into prison. I had a narrow escape. A guard had been marking the cell doors of those who were to killed with chalk and didn’t notice that my door was open. When the officers came to take the men who were to be terminated, my chalk mark was hidden from them. Luckily, I survived the rest of my imprisonment and was set free.
Journalist Rustus: What were your inventions?
Paine: I had received a patent in England to build a single span bridge in London. I also developed a smokeless candle - It was one of my favorite inventions. But the work I’m most proud of is the steam engines that I worked on. They weren’t very successful, but the sheer idea was ingenious. Steam engines weren’t used until the 1800s. Thomas Edison used some of my ideas to create widely used products like the light bulb .
Journalist Rustus: How many books/pamphlets did you write? What were they about?
Paine: I wrote 6 manuscripts: Common Sense ( I intended for it to be Plain Truth), The American Crisis (a set of 16 pamphlets), The Rights of Man, The Age of Reason, Agrarian Justice, and Letter to Washington. Common Sense was a pamphlet stating that the Americans were strong enough to rule themselves. The American Crisis was also about the American Revolution reinforcing the American revolution.
The Rights of Man was a book that told people how to be just and find happiness in being fair. Later, I wrote Age of Reason for the French while in prison. I also wrote Agrarian Justice for the French revolution. My last piece of writing was Letter to Washington. I wrote to Washington criticizing his choice of government. He chose a federal government for the new states. He let each state create their own laws and have one person rule over them for a time period of four years. The states would have a common army ,but they would rule themselves with help from their leader and the congress .
Journalist Rustus: What was your greatest achievement?
Paine: I felt that Common Sense was my greatest achievement because it was the most powerful pamphlet I wrote. The other manuscripts I wrote did well but didn’t deliver their purpose as well as Common Sense. Common Sense delivered my opinion as I wanted and persuaded many people to rule in favor of the patriots. Common Sense inspired and influenced many people like Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.
Journalist Rustus: If you stayed back in Britain, Would you still write for the Americans’ freedom?
Paine: Of course I would. The colonists deserved to receive independence from Britain. They were mature enough to rule over themselves. They could have their own government while Britain provided currency and had their companies produce goods They could have plants in the colonies and it would still be Britain. Britain had no need to tax colonists. The least they could do would be to have a representative in the parliament. Even if I was still in Britain, I would agree with the Patriots. Just because the rest of the country is fighting against the Americans doesn’t mean I should submit to the injustice that was happening. I sided on the side of the French revolution that was fair and honest. It’s simple. The British were being unjust and needed to change to prepare to lose America.
Journalist Rustus: What were your thoughts on Napoleon?
Paine: When I first had a meeting with him, I admired him, because he claimed that every night he slept with a copy of The Rights of Man underneath his pillow. But my admiration for Napoleon soon turned to condemnation as I saw Napoleon become a dictator. I called him “the completest charlatan that ever existed.”
Journalist Rustus: What did you do with the money that you earned from selling your books?
Paine: I decided to donate my profits to the continental army . I gave them some winter clothes and mittens to lighten their spirits during the harsh winters that they braved. I had no use for the money anyways,though I did keep some for myself to help with the farm.
Journalist Rustus: What did you did before you came to America?
Paine: When I was thirteen, I became an apprentice to my father as a corset maker. Unfortunately, my father found me unworthy of being a master corset-maker.. Towards the end of my teen years, I enlisted as a privateer. Shortly after, I left the job to become a master corset-maker. In 1761 I became a special member of the Thetford council.. Then in 1762 I became an excise officer in Grantham, Lincolnshire . I was transfered to a job where I inspected foreign goods, but Found it to be a bore. I wrote to the Board of excise to be reinstated. While waiting for a reply from the board, I became a stay-maker, a servant, and an ordained minister and preacher of church. While at my post as an excise officer , I was assigned to a post in Grampound and was then asked to be moved to a spot for a schoolteacher. After teaching for a year,I returned to my spot as an excise officer. I wrote a book called The case of the officers of excise. Then I moved to the Colonies and it all changed.
Journalist Rustus: Did you ever get sick ?
Paine: I did fall ill once when I was coming to America. The water on the ship that came here was so infected with germs that five people died of typhoid fever on the way. It took Benjamin Franklin’s physician six weeks to get me better.
Journalist Rustus: Where did you go on your Trips?
Thomas Paine: I moved many times in England before I came to the colonies. When I came To the new world, I went to New Rochelle,N.Y. where I stayed till I went back to England. From there I journeyed to France and finally came back to America in 1802.
JournalistRustus : And you stayed here in New Rochelle since?
Paine: My house was here in New Rochelle, so when I came back from France, I went back to living on my farm. I have never moved since.
Thomas Paine died on June, 8 1809 in Greenwich Village, New York City, N.y. before we could publish this edition. He died of poverty. Mr.Paine was a great writer and influenced many. So when you think of the forefathers of the Revolution, you can think of him.
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