Thomas Paine

Bio

(1737-1809) Political theorist and writer. Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet “Common Sense” (1776), which encouraged independence from Great Britain and he also wrote the pamphlet series “The Crisis” (1776-83), encouraging the patriot cause during the Revolutionary War. After the war, Mr. Paine lived in New Rochelle, New York, until 1787, when he left for England. There, he wrote “The Rights of Man” (1791-1792), and was persecuted for treasonous attacks on British institutions. Mr. Paine fled to France, and after playing a significant role in French affairs, he became imprisoned during the Reign of Terror in 1793. It was in prison that he wrote his most famous work, “The Age of Reason” (1794-95). Mr. Paine returned to the United States in 1802 and lived there for seven years in poverty. Mr. Paine lived in New York at the end of his life, spending the last month at 59 Grove Street at 7th Avenue. There is a plaque on the replacement house. Mr. Paine was a founding member of New York City’s first literary club, eventually called Bread and Cheese, once a formal collective. Members: Charles Wiley, William Dunlap, Henry Brevroot, Gulian Verplanck, city’s leading poet Fitz-Greene Halleck, and James Kent. (Washington Irving, abroad, was made an honorary member). Later inductees include William Cullen Bryant and Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph.