Thomas Paine
American philosopher and author (1737–1809)
Summary
Thomas Paine was an English-born American Founding Father, inventor, political philosopher, and statesman. His pamphlets Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783) framed the Patriot argument for independence from Great Britain at the outset of the American Revolution. Paine advanced Enlightenment-era arguments for human rights that shaped revolutionary discourse on both sides of the Atlantic.
Originally created by TimShell
9/29/2001, 8:18:27 AM
Modified
5/19/2026, 9:44:05 PM
Recent revisions
MOS:REFSPACE
improving lead; "French Revolutionary" in the sense of "non-French participant in the French Revolution" doesn't seem idiomatic
[[WP:CVPI|Interceptor]]: Reverting non-constructive edits by [[Special:Contributions/SixEightBasher|SixEightBasher]]
Formality is irrelevant. Undid revision [[Special:Diff/1352425478|1352425478]] by [[Special:Contributions/ParacelsusJr|ParacelsusJr]] ([[User talk:ParacelsusJr|talk]])
There was no formal immigration in place at this time, so the wording was adjusted.
[[User:PrimeBOT/30|Task 30]]: infobox parameter cleanup following [[Template_talk:Infobox_officeholder#Conflicting_parameter_cleanup|a discussion]] and overhaul
Sidebar, categories, etc
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another error
Fixed url error in history.com citation
Fixed generic name CS1 error in the history.com citation
Added a bit about him signing onto the privateer the Terrible at age 16
Reverted edit by [[Special:Contribs/~2026-12562-01|~2026-12562-01]] ([[User talk:~2026-12562-01|talk]]) to last version by Steel1943
Fixed typo
/* Early life and education */ fix common [[MOS:REFSPACE]] spacing errors, replaced: . <ref → .<ref
/* The Age of Reason */
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