The Rights of Man

1737-1809. Born in Norfolk, England, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies where, as a revolutionary leader, political activist and journalist he supported the American colonist's fight for independence. His widely read pamphlet, 'Common Sense', was a powerful weapon in this fight. "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, wrote John Adams, "the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain." As a social and political reformist, Paine supported the revolution in France, (where he was arrested and imprisoned in 1793), addressed property ownership and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. In 'The Age of Reason', it was his stance against institutionalized religion in general, and Christian doctrine in particular, that made him unpopular in later life.