Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, Norfolk, England, on January 29, 1737. After seven years of school, he apprenticed to his father, a corsetmaker. Paine ran away to sea at the age of sixteen, but soon returned, finished his apprenticeship, and worked in several towns before starting his own shop. In 1759, he married Mary Lambert. When she died suddenly the following year, Paine abandoned his trade to become an exciseman (collector of taxes on goods produced and sold in a country). He remarried in 1768 and continued his education by reading books, attending lectures, and conducting scientific experiments.

In 1772, Payne wrote a pamphlet calling for pay increases for excisemen. The new salaries were denied and Paine was fired from his job. He went bankrupt and was divorced from his second wife, but his career of fighting for reform had begun. His work caught the attention of Benjamin Franklin (1706-...