SOURCE: "Thomas Paine—Democrat," in The American Political Science Review, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, April, 1943, pp. 244-62.

In the essay that follows, Penniman parallels the moment in which he writes—during World War II—with the tumultuous time in which Paine wrote. He goes on to summarize the fundamental principles that girded the democracy that Paine ultimately espoused.

These may be "the times that try men's souls," as President Roosevelt recently told the nation, but they may also be the times when free and courageous men may push forward toward the better society of which Thomas Paine dreamed when he pleaded with the colonists for unity in the cause of freedom. When Paine first wrote those words 165 years ago, America had an opportunity to break away from the tyranny of Europe. But Paine was not content to win a war of independence for America alone. Like many today he...