Biography Essay

"I speak an open and disinterested language, dictated by no passion but that of humanity. . . . Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good." With these words in the Rights of Man II (1792) Thomas Paine, age fiftyfive, explained his mission to an eighteenthcentury world which viewed him with a mixture of passionate admiration, loathing, and exasperation. At this time he was famous in the Western world for his electrifying defense of American independence in Common Sense (1776) and for his essays in The American Crisis series (1776-1783), which had kept Americans informed and heartened during the Revolution. Since the American Revolution he had traveled in England and France, involving himself in the political affairs of both countries; he earned the enmity of the British government for his...