tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89605813022159954482024-02-06T19:55:28.404-08:00Thomas Paine ReviewThomas Paine and his followers, history of democratic reform, politics, commentary.Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.comBlogger238125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-34381633625500358142021-07-01T09:29:00.007-07:002021-07-01T09:32:13.518-07:00The Thomas Paine Review has MOVEDThis blog has moved to <br><a href="kennethburchell.substack.com">http://kennethburchell.substack.com</a>
You are invited to join in the conversation, learning, and fun. Invite your friends, comment, and participateKenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-19800044178538635862018-03-23T13:10:00.005-07:002018-03-23T13:10:48.800-07:00Contemporary poem re: Thomas Paine
<br />
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<span class="permalink"><br /></span>
</nav>Impressions On A Passing Cloud
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<a class="entry-date" href="https://christopher-black.com/2015/08/25/impressions-on-a-passing-cloud/" title="August 25 2015">
</a><span class="entry-byline">by <span class="author vcard">Christopher Black</span></span></div>
<div class="entry-meta">
<span class="entry-byline"><span class="author vcard"> </span> </span>
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<a href="https://christopherblackdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/hp-cloud-is-lost-300x225.png"><img alt="HP-Cloud-is-Lost-300x225" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-239" data-attachment-id="239" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="HP-Cloud-is-Lost-300×225" data-large-file="https://christopherblackdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/hp-cloud-is-lost-300x225.png?w=640?w=300" data-medium-file="https://christopherblackdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/hp-cloud-is-lost-300x225.png?w=640?w=300" data-orig-file="https://christopherblackdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/hp-cloud-is-lost-300x225.png?w=640" data-orig-size="300,225" data-permalink="https://christopher-black.com/hp-cloud-is-lost-300x225/" src="https://christopherblackdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/hp-cloud-is-lost-300x225.png?w=640" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
White and fair she moved on the wind,<br />
<br />
With the speed of a greyhound, the Golden Hind,<br />
<br />
She scudded along on a windward tack,<br />
<br />
Making for heaven, the sky at her back,<br />
<br />
She sailed unmanned, this ghost of a ship,<br />
<br />
But for Captain Tom Paine, who vowed he’d come back.<br />
<br />
For the sad Age of Reason, before the winds ran,<br />
<br />
Searching the seas for the lost Rights of Man<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />[Christopher Black's blog is highly recommended for more than his poem<br /><a href="https://christopher-black.com/2015/08/25/impressions-on-a-passing-cloud/">https://christopher-black.com/2015/08/25/impressions-on-a-passing-cloud/</a> ]Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-64851874676470308052018-03-03T12:20:00.003-08:002018-03-03T12:20:36.162-08:00Rare copy of Thomas Paine’s historic ‘The American Crisis’ discovered in Mt. Pleasant, Utah<a href="http://sanpetemessenger.com/2018/02/28/rare-document-found-in-mt-pleasant/">http://sanpetemessenger.com/2018/02/28/rare-document-found-in-mt-pleasant/</a>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-13472247126104436572017-03-02T21:50:00.000-08:002017-10-27T13:02:53.118-07:00Paul Craig Roberts and Lewis Lapham on Paine and plain speakingA recent Paine reference:<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px #ccc solid; margin: 0 0 0 .8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Seldom in history have the people had a voice. Those who try to give
people a voice are portrayed negatively by the ruling elites. Thomas
Paine’s Common Sense is the founding document of the American
Revolution. His book, Rights of Man, sold 500,000 copies, making it the
best-selling book of the 18th century. In Britain his reward was to be
charged with sedition by the government and declared an outlaw. In the
US, Federalist newspapers in Boston portrayed him as a drunkard and
infidel. There is no monument to him in Washington, D.C. As Lewis Lapham
has written, “Paine’s plain and forthright speaking is out of tune with
our own contemporary political discourse, which for the most part is
the gift for saying nothing.” Or for flumuxing you with false news.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/03/02/can-truth-prevail-paul-craig-roberts/" target="_blank">http://www.paulcraigroberts.or</a><wbr></wbr><a href="http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/03/02/can-truth-prevail-paul-craig-roberts/" target="_blank">g/2017/03/02/can-truth-prevail</a><wbr></wbr><a href="http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/03/02/can-truth-prevail-paul-craig-roberts/" target="_blank">-paul-craig-roberts/</a>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-16525694206557916712016-10-16T15:28:00.002-07:002016-10-16T15:28:57.416-07:00The Origin and Rise of Government<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_14r">
"Here
then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered
necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too
is the design and end of government, viz. Freedom and security. And
however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by
sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our
understanding, the simple voice of nature and reason will say, 'tis
right."<br />
—<a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=31989341581" href="https://www.facebook.com/TomPaineToday/">Thomas Paine</a>, Common Sense, 1776</div>
Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-47483581880282539892016-07-02T14:34:00.002-07:002017-10-27T13:24:24.408-07:00Changes in the Paine ReviewDear Readers, thanks for keeping track over recent years of the heretofore somewhat scholarly history focus of this blog. At the time it began, that was the prevailing direction in this author's work and there has not been time to do more. The direction of this blog will -- as you can tell -- change a bit. There will be more political and social commentary -- hopefully some useful exchange with thoughtful readers -- while retaining our "set the record straight" feature with Thomas Paine studies in particular and history more broadly. Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-37935449248795972192016-07-02T14:34:00.001-07:002016-07-02T22:37:41.112-07:00Tom Paine: the worker who helped make a revolution<span data-offset-key="fgnk4-0-0"><span data-text="true">It should be added that it was NOT John Adams who wrote that the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain but for the pen of Tom Paine. That was Joel Barlow. Otherwise a good, timely and overall accurate essay. </span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ueunion.org/ue-news-feature/2012/tom-paine-and-the-4th-of-july-the-worker-who-helped-make-a-revolution">http://www.ueunion.org/ue-news-feature/2012/tom-paine-and-the-4th-of-july-the-worker-who-helped-make-a-revolution</a>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-77412562491290899392015-05-15T18:44:00.000-07:002015-08-27T14:35:53.014-07:00The Two "F"s: Fanaticism and Feudalism. The world is once again in a great struggle with feudalism
and fanaticism. This is not a war on "terror." All the parties involved
use terror and terrorist practices. Nor is the world in a struggle
against Islam or any of the world's great religions -- no matter how
transgressive and open to criticism they may be. Christians practice
terror in the name of their religion just as all the world's "great"
religions do. And a great many more Christians, Muslim, Jews, Hindu and
Buddhists live peaceful, benevolent and pro-social lives in the name of
their religion. The problem isn't in the religions. Our enemies are the
fanatics among them all and any who advocate or practice a feudal
system.<br />
The world is in a struggle against feudalism and fanaticism.<br /><br />© Kenneth W. Burchell - 2015 - All Rights Reserved. Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-48748343825554433412015-02-18T13:01:00.000-08:002015-02-18T13:01:16.598-08:00"Science, the partisan of no country ..." Thomas Paine. "Letters, the tongue of the world, have in some measure brought all mankind acquainted, and by an extension of their uses are everyday promoting new friendship. Through them, distant nations become capable of conversation, and losing by degrees the awkwardness of strangers, and the moroseness of suspicion, they learn to know and understand each other. Science, the partisan of no country, but the beneficent patroness of all, has liberally opened a temple where all may meet. Her influence on the mind, like the sun on the chilled earth, has long been preparing it for higher cultivation and further improvement. The philosopher in one country sees not an enemy in the philosopher of another; he takes his seat in the temple of science, and asks not who sits beside him ..." <br /><br />Thomas Paine<br /><i>Letter to the Abbé Raynal</i><br /><br />One wishes that Mort Zuckerman and Benjamin Netanyahu would take Paine's words to heart. Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-61162286945114263162014-11-10T10:38:00.002-08:002014-11-10T10:38:34.287-08:00American Crisis at Swann Galleries auction<a href="http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2368++++++23+&refno=++692152&saletype=">http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2368++++++23+&refno=++692152&saletype=</a>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-75818454274509938742014-08-13T22:26:00.001-07:002014-08-13T22:26:57.797-07:00Harvey J. Kaye -- August 14: Time to Reinvigorate the Fight for the Four Freedoms Any real Paineites out there will already know that the star hitter on the Tom Paine batting roster is Prof. Kaye. Here he is at his best on the Fight for the Four Freedoms. Do you remember them? “FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND WANT – FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RELIGION.” <br />
<br />
<a href="http://ourfuture.org/20140813/14-august-time-to-reinvigorate-the-fight-for-the-four-freedoms#.U-vOzcDDeWk.mailto">http://ourfuture.org/20140813/14-august-time-to-reinvigorate-the-fight-for-the-four-freedoms#.U-vOzcDDeWk.mailto</a>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-58574902874374711052014-07-25T12:01:00.001-07:002014-07-25T12:01:30.840-07:00Harvey J. Kaye on Thomas Paine and "general revolution"<br />
Perhaps no one presently does more to bring the name of Thomas Paine before the public that Prof. Harvey J. Kaye. Here is yet another on the real meaning of American exceptionalism and the "general revolution" of the world: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://ourfuture.org/20140725/a-dangerous-idea-the-progressive-vision-of-of-american-exceptionalism#.U9KhdQwFxt0.twitter">http://ourfuture.org/20140725/a-dangerous-idea-the-progressive-vision-of-of-american-exceptionalism#.U9KhdQwFxt0.twitter</a><br />
<br />Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-22269383267704801002014-07-23T20:42:00.002-07:002014-07-23T20:42:57.348-07:00Thomas Paine biography recommendationSeveral individuals have asked recently for a recommendation of a Paine biography. Much the best of the recent and more accessible biographies is Harvey Kaye's. I'll be posting more info on this and related subjects in the near future and will probably create a recommendations page, but in the meantime: <br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=burche-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0195116275&asins=0195116275&linkId=JIOZ26MSJ4EI4YWJ&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"><br></iframe>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-76194324963535206472014-07-20T12:16:00.002-07:002014-07-20T12:16:42.972-07:00Thomas Paine on war. "War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen and unsupposed circumstances ... that no human wisdom can calculate the end."<br /><br />Thomas Paine -- Prospects on the Rubicon (1787)<br />Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-35823953319622151292014-07-11T13:32:00.002-07:002014-07-11T13:32:56.618-07:00Petition for Paine StreetKudos to Dylan DePice for starting this initiative. Sign it and share it, people. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.change.org/petitions/corey-johnson-reclaim-a-street-name-for-thomas-paine">https://www.change.org/petitions/corey-johnson-reclaim-a-street-name-for-thomas-paine</a><br />
<br />
(note: Dylan, nice work. Would love to be in touch at my direct email -- paineite at gmail dot com)Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-49533386807556247502014-07-11T13:12:00.000-07:002014-07-11T13:12:11.635-07:00Campaign to rename Barrow Street in honor of Thomas PaineThis story -- reported in the Right leaning New York Post -- affirms the great principle that all honorable men and women can find and work together on a towards the common good. We support this campaign and commend the NY Post for its coverage of the story.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://nypost.com/2014/07/06/push-to-rename-street-to-honor-writer-thomas-paine/">http://nypost.com/2014/07/06/push-to-rename-street-to-honor-writer-thomas-paine/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(acknowledgement and thanks to HJK for the link)</span>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-11116299207942054972014-05-31T10:29:00.002-07:002014-05-31T10:29:42.351-07:00American exceptionalism and Thomas Paine: Harvey J. Kaye Link to the audio broadcast is here: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://t.co/5Srkfp3o7P">http://t.co/5Srkfp3o7P</a>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-6312076150724480862014-05-02T13:07:00.003-07:002014-05-02T13:07:35.358-07:00Karl Marx - Thomas Paine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnNnxrTFoxYIAzGEWjZFNEMhzWydhcgSE9nKFXx8dqeAbsHqxBcdmtuvRijGaqKq2ji0xQW46_IdHAgHucy6HPvyHnr7DWXH16RTJYD6MVcxA6GaoT9ij6RbIwMLJN07iw7K3mVTSB4w/s1600/paine_cartoon.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnNnxrTFoxYIAzGEWjZFNEMhzWydhcgSE9nKFXx8dqeAbsHqxBcdmtuvRijGaqKq2ji0xQW46_IdHAgHucy6HPvyHnr7DWXH16RTJYD6MVcxA6GaoT9ij6RbIwMLJN07iw7K3mVTSB4w/s1600/paine_cartoon.jpeg" height="219" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-808014222821736002014-04-24T17:42:00.000-07:002014-04-24T17:42:00.276-07:00Thomas Paine on animal cruelty ... and human persecution and revenge. "Everything of persecution and revenge between man and man, and everything of cruelty to animals is a violation of moral duty." - Thomas Paine: The Age of ReasonKenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-12751137878810049912014-04-05T15:29:00.000-07:002014-05-06T18:48:40.211-07:00Thomas Paine -- sowing the world with mischief<div class="mbs _5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">
"The
time, sir, will come when you, in a melancholy hour, shall reckon up
your miseries by your murders in America. Life, with you, begins to wear
a clouded aspect. The vision of pleasurable delusion is wearing away,
and changing to the barren wild of age and sorrow.<br />
The poor
reflection of having served your king will yield you no consolation in
your parting moments. He will crumble to the same undistinguished ashes
with yourself, and have sins enough of his own to answer for.<br />
It
is not the farcical benedictions of a bishop, nor the cringing hypocrisy
of a court of chaplains, nor the formality of an act of Parliament,
that can change guilt into innocence, or make the punishment one pang
the less. You may, perhaps, be unwilling to be serious, but this
destruction of the goods of Providence, this havoc of the human race,
and this sowing the world with mischief, must be accounted for to him
who made and governs it. To us they are only present sufferings, but to
him they are deep rebellions."<br />
<a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=31989341581" href="https://www.facebook.com/TomPaineToday">Thomas Paine</a>, <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=109202409098131" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-American-Crisis/109202409098131">The American Crisis</a> V<br />
<br /></div>
Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-47237598061365663052014-03-01T13:25:00.002-08:002014-05-06T18:49:18.405-07:00All the knowledge man has ... Thomas Paine. "All the knowledge man has of science and of machinery, by the aid of
which his existence is rendered comfortable upon earth, and without
which he would be scarcely distinguishable in appearance and condition
from a common animal, comes from the great machine and structure of the
universe. The constant and unwearied observations of our ancestors upon
the movements and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, in what are
supposed to have been the early ages of the world, have brought this
knowledge upon earth. It is not Moses and the prophets, nor Jesus
Christ, nor his apostles, that have done it. The Almighty is the great
mechanic of the creation; the first philosopher and original teacher of
all science. Let us, then, learn to reverence our master, and let us not
forget the labors of our ancestors."<br />
<br />
Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason<br />
<br />Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-43458446626457966882013-12-05T09:21:00.003-08:002013-12-05T09:21:15.027-08:00The Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine debate continues ...<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/05/we-are-radicals-at-heart-a-new-history-gets-america-wrong.html">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/05/we-are-radicals-at-heart-a-new-history-gets-america-wrong.html</a>Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-39283312019852707332013-11-06T19:24:00.000-08:002013-11-06T19:28:42.982-08:00Quote check ..."the belief in a cruel god makes a cruel man."This quotation has proliferated widely on the internet and though it seemed at first a bit suspect, it turns out to accurate. The full quotation and citation are as follows: <br />
<br />
“It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.”<br />
Thomas Paine -- "A letter: being an answer to a friend, on the publication of The age of reason." Paris; May 12, 1797. <br />
<br />
This letter was originally printed in <i>The Prospect</i>, <i>Or View of the Moral World</i>, published by the blind deist lecturer Elihu Palmer. Insofar as I can tell, the recipient is unknown.Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-90961346119251527952013-09-07T12:19:00.001-07:002013-12-05T09:22:53.356-08:00Blogfodder -- scrap the whole government<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyakjbtQ-LHRBK6s_7p7eKI69ZyAvkqKgqVEwuXlEJENj3hqYaZiE3MjdjBvtd9np23UQ73fWcrRThphkTcwBcRg5zGe_p-YFp3OfoyP7I_If0GB1Zmie3LtGzlQrkSAZRN6fp0k_lAg/s1600/1235184_593865080657343_1704114272_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyakjbtQ-LHRBK6s_7p7eKI69ZyAvkqKgqVEwuXlEJENj3hqYaZiE3MjdjBvtd9np23UQ73fWcrRThphkTcwBcRg5zGe_p-YFp3OfoyP7I_If0GB1Zmie3LtGzlQrkSAZRN6fp0k_lAg/s320/1235184_593865080657343_1704114272_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Comment:<br />
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Nope .. cannot agree. The American republic -- always far from perfect but nevertheless an ever-changing republican experiment -- has been hijacked. By whom? That should be obvious -- the great military, industrial, financial, corporate complex. Money is power because we have made it so. By the way, this is not new. The revolution of "We the People" and "We hold these truths to be self-evident" was hijacked at the 1789 Constitutional Convention and we the people have been in a constant struggle ever since. It took until 1842 to secure universal WHITE MANhood suffrage -- 1922 for the female vote -- 1960s to enfranchise blacks and others. Two centuries of struggle and progress hang now in the balance. What we want is to SECURE our republic and certainly neither in control of the oligarchs (what we have now) nor that of the advocates of puerile flavor-of-the-month political solutions whether identified as anarchism or libertarianism. <br />
<br />
Government is not the enemy; the FINANCIAL system is the enemy -- and they own our (and your) government .. and you. Less regulation isn't the answer -- it's what got into this mess. Take control of the government and move it forward. The time is always now. Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960581302215995448.post-21616471595907593552013-08-06T18:38:00.001-07:002013-10-24T10:04:59.815-07:00Thomas Paine: American, Brit, citizen of France ... or CITIZEN OF THE WORLD?(Submitted by RB) <br />
Reply: <br />
<br />
This is one of the perennial questions that<br />
arise in Thomas Paine studies.<br />
<br />
Certainly not French as Elisha Ward alleged in the 1806 Board of Review decision that denied Paine's citizenship and right to vote in New Rochelle. After all George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson are but a few of the many who would be French citizens and ineligible for office or honors by the same evidence ie. honorary French citizenship bestowed by the revolutionary French Assembly. <br />
<br />
Paine doubtless repudiated King George and English citizenship when he was sworn into General Daniel Roberdeau's "Flying Camp" and later served as aide-de-camp for General Nathaniel Greene in the Continental Army. The British crown put a price on Paine's head and would have hung him if it could. <br />
<br />
Elisha Ward tipped his hand when he replied "Our minister at Paris, Gouverneur Morris, would not reclaim you as an American citizen when you were imprisoned in the Luxembourg at Paris, and General Washington refused to do it." First consider the implications for Paine's <i>Letter to George Washington.</i> At the very least it lends weight to Paine's allegation that Washington and Morris conspired in his imprisonment and that this was recognized and bragged about in Federalist circles. More importantly, though, it ignores the events that transpired after the plotting Morris fled France and James Monroe arrived as the new Minister Plenipotentiary. Paine himself documented the correspondence between James Monroe and the Secretary of State Edmund Randolph that confirmed his citizenship and the lawfulness of his reclamation from Luxembourg Prison by later president James Monroe. The Federalist board ignored the evidence and ruled against Paine.<br />
Paine was deeply stung and angered -- and eventually vindicated. 139 years later, the municipality retroactively granted Paine "full citizenship and the rights thereof." <br />
<br />
Paine certainly belongs to all the world and called himself, as did many, a <b><i>citizen of the world</i></b>. And more than that, Paine saw his own thought as universal in scope, based upon reason, nature, the universe. <br />
<br />
But Paine claimed American citizenship and Americans should claim him, too. <br />
<br />
"Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our
citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By
the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great
title is AMERICANS — our inferior one varies with the place." <br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>The American Crisis</i>: Philadelphia, April 19, 1783</span></h4>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<q cite="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/6925/">Our
citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our
citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By
the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great
title is AMERICANS -- our inferior one varies with the place.</q> - See more at: http://quotationsbook.com/quote/6925/#sthash.HCjDlrhf.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<q cite="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/6925/">Our
citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our
citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By
the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great
title is AMERICANS -- our inferior one varies with the place.</q> - See more at: http://quotationsbook.com/quote/6925/#sthash.HCjDlrhf.dpuf</div>
Kenneth W. Burchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03530469711913663388noreply@blogger.com1