Thomas Paine Review

Frances A. Chiu on Thomas Paine and the Occupy Wallstreet Movement

2012-02-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

Literary and Thomas Paine scholar -- and valued friend of this blog --
Frances A. Chiu has written a fine essay on Paine for the journal of the
Occupy movement entitled The Occupy Wallstreet Journal. Don't miss
it:

http://occupiedmedia.us/2012/01/regaining-common-sense/

Graham Moore, The Shee, Dick Gaughan, and "Tom Paine's Bones."

2012-02-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

There's a new cover of composer/singer Graham Moore's wonderful "Tom Paine's Bones" here:

http://youtu.be/OGd5rqYbt5o

The Shee do a nice job on it. Dick Gaughan's is probably the best known cover of this piece, but I still much prefer the composer's original. I haven't been able to locate Graham's old website, so if anyone has it, please send it along. His DVD entitled "Tom Paine's Bones" is full of the best music you'll ever listen to ... some of it traditional English radical and/or folk pieces ... some of it, like the subject of this blog, music of his own composition. The entire album with samples is available here and it comes highly recommended by yours truly. Best wishes, Graham, wherever you are:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/grahammoore1

[and thanks for another good link are due again to blog-friend and Paine scholar Harvey J. Kaye]

Did Paine ever say or write: "Lead, follow or get out of the way."

2012-02-05T15:47:00.000-08:00

Followers of this blog will already know the answer to this question. It's been treated here before. But a recent article by essayist and commentator John Nichols of The Nation magazine treats Mitt-the-Mormon's miserable misquote of a few days ago. See:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165986/tom-paine-would-not-have-approved-mitt-romney

The quote has already been roundly debunked here on this blog:

http://kenburchell.blogspot.com/2011/07/thomas-paine-never-said-nor-wrote-lead.html

but you're excused if you missed it and in case you did, a generous reader contributed what is probably the actual citation:

"We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way." George S. Patton, as quoted in Pocket Patriot : Quotes from American Heroes (2005) edited by Kelly Nickell, p. 157

[and thanks to Harvey J. Kaye for the tip-off on the Nichols piece]

Viral email: Thomas Jefferson quotations

2012-01-23T23:04:00.000-08:00

Another of these viral emails was forwarded to me today supposed chock full of juicy Thomas Jefferson quotations that show he was a pistol-packing, government hating, social security despising Tea-bagger. My beloved Uncle Bud and Aunt Marjie were the instigators and I'm CERTAIN that they fully expected me to debunk the whole thing. I did. And decided to post it here for posterity. The email begins with a Jefferson timeline and then a collection of quotes. From the collection:

**********

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

-- Thomas Jefferson

This quotation first appeared in Dreams Come Due: Government and Economics as if Freedom Mattered (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986), p. 312, written under the pseudonym of John Galt. It is there attributed to Jefferson, but is not found anywhere in his works.

**********

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

-- Thomas Jefferson

I cannot locate this quotation anywhere in Jefferson's works nor can I locate a single quotation where he uses the word "incumbent." Doubtful to say the least.

**********

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -- Thomas Jefferson

Baloney. This is misquote: "If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy." Letter to Thomas Cooper (29 November 1802)

**********

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." -- Thomas Jefferson

More baloney.
Motto of United States Magazine and Democratic Review. First used in introductory essay by editor John L. O'Sullivan in the premier issue (October, 1837, p. 6). Attributed to Jefferson by Henry David Thoreau, this statement is cited in his essay on civil disobedience, but the quote has not been found in Jefferson's own writings. It is also commonly attributed to Thomas Paine, perhaps because of its similarity in theme to many of his well-documented expressions such as "Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one."
    Variant: That government is best which governs least.

**********

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson

Seriously inaccurate. The actual quotation with citation is:
"No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms [within his own lands]."
DRAFT Constitution for Virginia (June 1776) This quote almost always appears with the parenthetical omitted and with the SPURIOUS extension, "The strongest reason for the people to retain their right to keep and bear arms is as a last resort to protect themselves against tyranny in government".

**********

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." -- Thomas Jefferson

Spurious. See notation to previous quote.

**********

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." -- Thomas Jefferson

Just the kind of sloppy misquote that one expects from this kind of smarmy pseudo-patriotic claptrap. The actual quotation with its context here:

"Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet choose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to exalt it by its influence on reason alone; that the impious presumption of legislature and ruler, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, Chapter 82 (1779). Published in The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes, Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, Vol. 1, pp. 438–441

**********

Thomas Jefferson (supposedly) said in 1802:

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

With respect to the first half of this mangled mess:

The earliest known appearance of this quote is from 1895 (Joshua Douglass, "Bimetallism and Currency", American Magazine of Civics, 7:256). It is apparently a combination of paraphrases or approximate quotations from three separate letters of Jefferson (longer excerpts in sourced section):
    I sincerely believe, with you, that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies...
        Letter to John Taylor, 1816
    The bank mania...is raising up a moneyed aristocracy in our country which has already set the government at defiance...
        Letter to Josephus B. Stuart, 1817
    Bank paper must be suppressed, and the circulating medium must be restored to the nation to whom it belongs.
        Letter to John W. Eppes, 1813

With respect to the second half which reads:

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations which grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

Respectfully Quoted says this is "obviously spurious", noting that the OED's earliest citation for the word "deflation" is from 1920. The earliest known appearance of this quote is from 1935 (Testimony of Charles C. Mayer, Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, House of Representatives, Seventy-fourth Congress, First Session, on H.R. 5357, p. 799). It appears nowhere in Jefferson's works.

[Credit to Wikiquotes.org for the greatest portion of this information]

Paine on freedom of opinion in religion and government

2012-01-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

"When opinions are free, either in matters of government or religion, truth will finally and powerfully prevail." Thomas Paine, Age of Reason, pt. II.

Thomas Paine on revelation.

2011-12-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

"It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication. After this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner, for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him."
- Thomas Paine, Age of Reason, Part 1

Thomas Paine, utilitarian.

2011-12-20T09:11:00.000-08:00

"For the first and great question, and that which involves every other in it, and from which every other will flow, is happiness."
Thomas Paine, The Forrester's Letters, 1776.

Thomas Paine -- an association of vices revisited.

2011-12-18T22:25:00.002-08:00

[posted in honor of my friend Jim Lockhardt]

"An association of vices will reduce us more than the sword."
Thomas Paine, American Crisis IX, 1780.

Everyone understands, don't they, that the financial industry and "big corporate" are accomplices in the subversion of the Congress ... not to exclude the government more generally, the military and even off-book elements. The corruption of government is a symptom. The infection is undue influence and the means is money or, as it's sometimes called, power. This has been the case, incidentally, since the establishment of the 1789 Constitution, the law-of-the-land in name. Money is king, not law. The corruption of government is a symptom. The infection is undue influence and the means is money or, as it's sometimes called, power (repeated, with apologies, for emphasis). This is not rocket-science. On the one hand, Congress was bribed into deregulating the financial sector while, on the other hand, Chicago and Austrian school economists blew hot air in the pants of anyone naive enough to believe their recycled "show me the money" theories. Short on education and long on petty greed, Americans ignored history and allowed over one hundred years of hard-earned economic experience to go down the drain. Forty years of so-called free-market deregulation and what did we get? Trillions of dollars in exotic, non-productive financial instruments -- basically bets leveraged in different directions on crummy mortgages in an overheated housing bubble -- took down the economy. The bad mortgages were the initial domino. In terms of dollar amount (that's numbers of dominoes for you Fox News kool-aid drinkers out there), the bad mortgages and underwater homes are DWARFED by the vastly larger amounts of unfunded funny-money ... drrrrrr ... financial instruments that were placed as bets by both for and against them. Anyone that believes deregulation is the cure under these circumstances needs -- in my ever humble opinion, of COURSE -- an examination of the cranium. The cure begins with publicly funded elections. And from the day the decision was made, it was clear to me that the only legal solution to the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" and other corporate person-hood precedent is a constitutional amendment.The republic was lost a long time ago. We 'Muricans prefer a comfortable lie to the bald truth. It an oligarchy ... an aristocracy of money. If we decide to move towards a freer society and equality under the law -- in my view the synonym for free society is democratic republic -- then we're going to have to struggle for it. We don't have one now and the powers-that-be will go neither willingly nor easily from their preeminent positions.

Lincoln on labor and capital.

2011-12-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

Pres. Lincoln on the supremacy of labor -- speech delivered to Joint Session of Congress 150 years ago today:

"It is not needed, nor fitting here [in discussing the Civil War] that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effect to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded thus far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life.

“Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless.

“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights."

http://www.history.umd.edu/Faculty/IBerlin/HIST156/doc9.htm

Edward Gray on Tom Paine's Iron Bridge

2011-10-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

Brief, charming and ACCURATE essay on Tom Paine's iron bridge:

http://www.common-place.org/vol-05/no-04/talk/

Thomas Paine on Moses, the Bible, and history.

2011-09-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

"My intention is to show that those books are spurious, and that Moses is not the author of them and still further, they were not written in the time of Moses, nor till several hundred years afterward that they are no other than attempted history of the life of Moses, and of the times in which he is said to have lived, and also of the times prioir thereto, written by some very ignorant and stupid pretenders to authorship several hundrerd years after the death of Moses, as men now write histories of things that happened, or are supposed to have happened, sevral hundred or several thousand years ago".

PAINE, Thomas. The Age of Reason (Part II).

[compliments of Paine scholar and colleague, Salim B.]

Thomas Paine on property.

2011-09-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

"All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came."
Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice, Pt. 3.

The poison pill dealt the American Revolution

2011-08-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

Money as Debt video -- a short critique:

Several colleagues and friends have pointed out a video on Google Videos entitled Money as Debt. The link is here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2550156453790090544&hl=en

This video is, in fairness, a good attempt to make sense of the problem in a manner that the average rube can relate to -- namely, an oversimplified cartoon. But it strikes me first as vastly inadequate because all it does is describe a problem without suggesting the solution. And, in fact, the "problem description" itself is inadequate -- oversimplified and at some points inaccurate. They're on the right track, but I personally would not recommend the video. The fundamental issue here is not credit itself ... or usury -- that isn't ever going to go away -- at least I don't believe so. The issue is WHO gets the vig -- or interest. When the interest from currency creation goes into private hands, then the citizenry and the economy are constantly being bled and greed becomes the driving force --- thereby leading to extreme fractional reserve ratios, exotic credit and investment instruments and a host of ills. Take that away, put the benefit of currency creation back into the hands of the citizenry though development of education, infrastructure, research, medical care, etc. and the problem goes away. Take currency creation out of the hands of private capital, period. I would argue that is what Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution was intended to do ... but Hamilton talked the Congress into outsourcing the job -- from where I stand, that was the poison pill dealt to the American Revolution.

--
© Kenneth W. Burchell 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Thomas Paine: schoolmasters v priests.

2011-08-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

"One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests."
Thomas Paine, Worship and Churchbells: A letter to Camille Jordan, 1797.

Tom Paine lays out the issues then and now

2011-08-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

"... a remarkable series of eight letters To the Citizens of the United States and Particularly to the Leaders of the Federal Faction (1802-5) ... addressed the principal political and social controversies of the (Early Federal) era: pre-emptive war; government as a profitable monopoly; curtailment of constitutional rights in the name of security; the unitary executive; abuse of political and governmental power; the privatization of national currency creation; jingoism and war-whoop mentality; conservative retrenchment in the past versus transformational radicalism; and the place of religion in the public sphere."

Kenneth Burchell, ed. Thomas Paine and America, 1776-1809 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2009), 1:x.

Thomas Paine -- "What we obtain to cheap ..."

2011-07-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this
consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious
the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is
dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to
put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if
so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis I, December 23, 1776.

Sophia Rosenfeld takes a stab at understanding the lack of a Paine statue in Washington, DC

2011-07-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

Sophia Rosenfeld takes a stab at understanding the lack of a statue for Thomas Paine in Washington, DC and while she makes some good points about the historic invocation of Paine's memory by the leaders of American democratic reform (sounds as though she may have read Harvey J. Kaye's fine work on Paine), she misses the central issue surrounding Paine's execration by the Federalists of the early 19th c.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/29/the-fight-over-common-sense-how-the-tea-party-and-the-right-get-tom-paine-wrong.html

Paine wouldn't WANT a statue in DC. In his strafing attack "Letter to George Washington" Paine said he had a right to call himself "the first federalist" because of his early proposal for a union of the colonies, but by the time he returned from France in 1802 he had become a staunch anti-federalist and a hero to those who opposed the Adams/Hamilton version of American greed-based government with private banking in the driver's seat. That's the underlying reason why there's no statue to Paine in Washington, DC. He wouldn't bow to the "wise" financial geniuses of American government of the greedy, by the greedy and for the greedy.

The unfinished American Revolution and a proposal for a new political party

2011-07-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

The United States of America needs a new political party born of the unfinished business of the American Revolution -- much like Horace Greeley said of the Republican Party when it was created back in the mid 1850s. The Republican Party was originally created to resolve the issue of slavery versus free labor, free land, free speech and free people. The Whig and Democratic Parties failed to resolve the issue and both shattered over internal divisions. The Republican Party that arose in their stead was originally pro-tariff and anti-slavery. The two great American political issues of the Nineteenth Century were slavery and banking. The slavery issue -- at least chattel slavery -- was solved, but the issue of wage-slavery and banking exploitation was never resolved. In fact, I would argue that the bank monopolies prevailed. Study the debates that surrounded creation of Hamilton's first Bank of the United States. The Congress of the United States farmed out its constitutional currency creating powers to a private banking corporation, setting off a two-hundred year struggle that still threatens to collapse the remains of the republic. Unless we mobilize the citizenry, the international banking/financial interests will extinguish the U. S. before the U. S. can begin to extinguish the banking cartels.

Thomas Paine neither said nor wrote "lead, follow or get out of the way."

2011-07-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

Every work and letter of Paine's has been digitally searched for this. It's all here on my computer and I've been reading and pondering Paine for much of my 61 years. Factually, it doesn't even SOUND like Paine who was rarely, if ever, bullying or brusque in print or in person. Bottom line, he never said nor wrote it and I'll send $20 US to anyone who can come up with a legitimate citation that he did. Paine never said it.

Thomas Paine and salvation through the blood sacrifice of Christ Jesus

2011-07-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

"From the time I was capable of conceiving an idea and acting upon it by reflection, I either doubted the truth of the Christian system or thought it to be a strange affair; I scarcely knew which it was, but I well remember, when about seven or eight years of age, hearing a sermon read by a relation of mine, who was a great devotee of the Church [35], upon the subject of what is called redemption by the death of the Son of God.

After the sermon was ended, I went into the garden, and as I was going down the garden steps (for I perfectly recollect the spot) I revolted at the recollection of what I had heard, and thought to myself that it was making God Almighty act like a passionate man who killed His son when He could not revenge Himself in any other way, and, as I was sure a man would be hanged who did such a thing, I could not see for what purpose they preached such sermons.

This was not one of that kind of thoughts that had anything in it of childish levity; it was to me a serious reflection, arising from the idea I had that God was too good to do such an action, and also too almighty to be under any necessity of doing it. I believe in the same manner at this moment; and I moreover believe that any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true system."

Thomas Paine - Age of Reason, Pt. 1

Thomas Paine, Anthony Benezet and the first American Antislavery Society (Anti-Slavery)

2011-07-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

Thomas Paine appeared today in one of the many blog-attacks on the historical accuracy of Michelle Bachman and other Republican figures.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/02-5

The author of the article in CommonDreams.org may have fallen, however, for one of the old Thomas Paine chestnuts that still circulate far and wide with little or no historical support. In this case, it's the following quotation:

".... on April 14, 1775, the first anti-slavery society in the American colonies was formed in Philadelphia.
Thomas Paine was a founding member."

This story traces back, insofar as I have been able to ascertain, to Paine biographer Moncure Daniel Conway who presented it as fact without documentation in support his claim or attribution to his own source. Some years ago this writer spent a great deal of research time trying to trace down the facts surrounding the claim ... and came up 100% empty-handed. Extant primary sources -- at least the ones I have seen to date -- fail to mention Paine's name. Certainly the question can be said to remain open, but while it's tempting to believe that Paine would have if he could have, the fact remains that we do not know and there appears to be no good historical basis for the claim.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/02-5

Thomas Paine: A thing moderately good

2011-06-30T22:20:00.001-07:00

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice."
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man II, 1792.

Thomas Paine: To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason

2011-06-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture." Thomas Paine, The American Crisis V, March 21, 1778, To Sir William Howe.

Thomas Paine on the moral duty of mankind.

2011-06-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

"... the moral duty of man consists of imitating the moral goodness and beneficence of God manifested in the creation towards all his creatures. That seeing, as we daily do, the goodness of God to all men, it is an example calling upon all ment to practice the same towards each other; and consequently that every thing of persecution and revenge between man and man, and every thing of cruelty to animals, is a violation of moral duty." Thomas Paine, Age of Reason, I, 1794.

"... the strength and powers of depotism." Thomas Paine

2011-06-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

" ... the strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the.
fear of resisting it." Thomas Paine, Rights of Man II, ch. 5.

Effigy hanging in front of the Parliament of Greece

2011-06-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

You know ... I wonder if we in the United States of Amerika could even get AWAY with good ole effigy-hanging like our "patriot forefathers" did in olden times?

Details here:
Effigy hanging outside Greek Parliament

Thomas Paine, Bob Dylan, and the NECLC (National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee).

2011-05-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

The National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (NECLC), founded in 1951 and known for many years simply as the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (ECLC), annually held a Bill of Rights Dinner which gathered together members and friends of the organization and provided a setting for the presentation of the group's Tom Paine Award, given once yearly since 1958 in recognition of distinguished service in the fight for civil liberty. The recipient of the 1963 award was singer/songwriter Bob Dylan who accepted the award on December 13 at the Dinner in New York, which also featured noted author James Baldwin.

Full story here:

http://www.corliss-lamont.org/dylan.htm

[This fascinating piece of Paine and Dylan lore was spotted on one of the several Facebook pages entitled "Thomas Paine" here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thomas-Paine/31989341581

Thomas Paine -- gold, silver, and paper money.

2011-05-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

"Gold and silver are the emissions of nature: paper is the emission of
art. The value of gold and silver is ascertained by the quantity which
nature has made in the earth. We cannot make that quantity more or
less than it is, and therefore the value being dependent upon the
quantity, depends not on man. Man has no share in making gold or
silver; all that his labors and ingenuity can accomplish is, to
collect it from the mine, refine it for use and give it an impression,
or stamp it into coin.

Its being stamped into coin adds considerably to its convenience but
nothing to its value. It has then no more value than it had before.
Its value is not in the impression but in itself. Take away the
impression and still the same value remains. Alter it as you will, or
expose it to any misfortune that can happen, still the value is not
diminished. It has a capacity to resist the accidents that destroy
other things. It has, therefore, all the requisite qualities that
money can have, and is a fit material to make money of — and nothing
which has not all those properties can be fit for the purpose of
money.

Paper, considered as a material whereof to make money, has none of the
requisite qualities in it. It is too plentiful, and too easily come
at. It can be had anywhere, and for a trifle.

There are two ways in which I shall consider paper.

The only proper use for paper, in the room of money, is to write
promissory notes and obligations of payment in specie upon. A piece of
paper, thus written and signed, is worth the sum it is given for, if
the person who gives it is able to pay it, because in this case, the
law will oblige him. But if he is worth nothing, the paper note is
worth nothing. The value, therefore, of such a note, is not in the
note itself, for that is but paper and promise, but in the man who is
obliged to redeem it with gold or silver.

Paper, circulating in this manner, and for this purpose, continually
points to the place and person where, and of whom, the money is to be
had, and at last finds its home; and, as it were, unlocks its master's
chest and pays the bearer.

But when an assembly undertakes to issue paper as money, the whole
system of safety and certainty is overturned, and property set afloat.
Paper notes given and taken between individuals as a promise of
payment is one thing, but paper issued by an assembly as money is
another thing. It is like putting an apparition in the place of a man;
it vanishes with looking at it, and nothing remains but the air."

Thomas Paine, Dissertations on government, the affairs of the bank, and paper money (1786).

Thomas Paine -- Society and Government

2011-05-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

"GREAT part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It had its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished. The mutual dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all parts of a civilized community upon each other, create that great chain of connection which holds it together. The landholder, the farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradesman, and every occupation) prospers by the aid which each receives from the other, and from the whole. Common interest regulates their concerns, and forms their laws; and the laws which common usage ordains, have a greater influence than the laws of government. In fine, society performs for itself almost every thing which is ascribed to government." Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, Part Second, Chapter 1.

The account of Thomas Paine's drunkenness by American portrait painter John Wesley Jarvis.

2011-05-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

In consideration of a recent question:

"Both Fruchtman and Keane mention Jarvis's account of Paine's drinking.

What's your opinion of Jarvis's assertions? Does Kaye get into it?"

The answer to this question goes all the way back to Cheetham's attack-bio of Paine -- yes, the one that he published immediately after Paine's death in order to avoid a libel or slander suit that Paine had threatened. In his malicious and defamatory biography, Cheetham wrote:

"He did not constantly drink to excess, yet he frequently got excessively tipsy. Once Mr. Jarvis knew him to abstain from liquor two weeks. He had fits of intoxication, and when these came on, he would sit up at night, tippling until he fell off his chair. Disposed to listen to his conversation, Mr. Jarvis sat with him one night from twelve to three, doing all he politely could to keep him sober. At three he left him at his bottle. At four he returned to the room and found him drunk on the floor. Mr. Jarvis wished to raise him up, but Paine desired to lie still. I have vertigo, the vertigo, said he. Yes, said Mr. Jarvis, taking up the bottle and looking at its diminished contents, you have it deep -- deep!" [Cheetham, Life of Thomas Paine, 274-5]

Now, Jack Fruchtman wrote that "Jarvis thought he [Paine - author] sometimes drank too heavily, although he never accused him of being an alcoholic or drunkard." Jarvis was abstemious and religious, so he probably thought ANY elevated drinking was too much. And besides, as we shall see further along, Jarvis strongly repudiated Cheetham's account. What is interesting here is that Fruchtmans only citation for his allegation that "Jarvis thought he sometimes drank too heavily" was the Paine biography of Gilbert Vale [p.153] which makes no like proposition and it was Gilbert Vale who, more than any Paine biographer, repudiated the mythology of Paine's supposed drunkenness. While this would be loose scholarship in a more academic context, Fruchtman's bio is a popular work and cited more loosely as is characteristic of the genre.

John Keane's biography of Paine is perhaps the most intensively researched and cited of all Paine biographies and I have written elsewhere that it is an indispensable work for the library of any Paine scholar or enthusiast. It is not, however, without difficulties -- one of which is his frequent use of Cheetham's attack-biography without disclosure of its use or citation to Cheetham. I have documented a number of places where Keane resorted to Cheetham's account without disclosure or citation. The present account is one of them. On page 524 of his biography he repeated Cheetham's account almost word-for-word .... without any citation for his source. Did he simply overlook the citation to Cheetham's account? Keane's persistent use of Cheetham in his biography without attribution certainly gives the impression of a more systemic oversight or systematic omission.

Cheetham's biography is not now nor has it ever been reliable. Cheetham was a convicted and notorious libeler who was in fact successfully sued for slander based on this very work. There is little doubt that he wrote his bio of Paine in order to curry favor with British Tories and American Federalists-- Cheetham fled to Britain largely in order to escape further lawsuits. Madame Bonneville, who Cheetham accused of having fathered at least one child by Paine, successfully sued Cheetham in an American court so hostile to Paine that the judge commented on the beneficial effect he thought Cheetham's biography produced on the morals of society.

More importantly, Jarvis himself repudiated the entire account as related by Cheetham. The great American portraitist -- who painted, drew and sculpted some of our finest images of Paine -- lived until 1839. He was known for his wit, conversation and integrity -- and Gilbert Vale knew him personally. Vale was an experienced journalist and scholarly researcher whose investigation of the "black legend" of Paine's supposed drunkenness led him ultimately to write his own Life of Thomas Paine [1839]. Vale, whose credibility is without question, wrote that

"Here he [Paine] soon recovered, and he and Mr. Jarvis became good companions; the one the greatest wit of the age, and the other, though now an old man, not deficient in sprightly thoughts or conversation , and abounding in information. Mr. Jarvis still speaks of their agreeable companionship with much gust, and relates a number of anecdotes highly characteristic; and he positively denies to us the language ascribed to him by Cheetham. As Mr. Jarvis was at this time in good circumstances, and received Mr. Paine as a companion, the Cheetham stories of Mr. Paine's dirtiness kill themselves, for it is absurd to suppose Mr. Jarvis would have had such a companion."

In fine then, all of the accounts of Jarvis' testimony to Paine's drunkenness devolve on the discredited, litigated, and personally repudiated -- by Jarvis himself -- account of James Cheetham, the lying Tory expatriate.

Preding

2011-05-01T21:27:00.001-07:00

The president said "preding."

Thomas Paine portrait by Charles Wilson Peale

2011-04-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

In reply to two colleagues who recently inquired about the identity of the painter of this portrait of Thomas Paine:

With respect to this particular portrait the editor of this blog cannot pretend to absolute certainty because there exists no comprehensive catalog of the known portraits of Thomas Paine. To my recollection, Conway is the only author/scholar to write about the subject in any depth and his account (found at the end of his Paine bio) is inadequate and quite outdated. Many more portraits are now known, but the attributions on just as many are confused or controversial. The editor is in possession of a considerable file on the subject, has learned in the process that a descriptive catalog or bibliography is a greater task than appears at first blush and would welcome the collaboration of another scholar or enthusiast for the eventual realization of such a work -- I'm not getting any younger.

The portrait is correctly attributed, I believe, to Charles Wilson Peale (April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827), who knew Paine. There is or was a copy of it hanging in Constitution Hall -- I believe I recall seeing it there some years ago. Conway wrote -- on what authority he does not say -- that the latter is a second copy by Peale. The original is said to hang in the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, now an important Portrait Gallery of paintings by Charles Wilson Peale.

You will sometimes also see it attributed to Bass Otis (July 17, 1784 - November 3, 1861), but if Otis painted one -- and I don't pretend to know to a certainly -- it would logically been a copy or study.

Nobody, to my knowledge, has ever done a thorough analysis of the extant and/or earliest copies of this work or any other Paine portrait. There must be material enough among them for any number of monographs, dissertations or other studies by present-day or aspiring scholars and art historians.

Thomas Paine, Arthur O'Conner and the Rebellion of 1798

2011-04-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

While transported to prison for his part in the Rebellion of 1798, Arthur O'Conner of the United Irishmen penned the following lines. While an apparently loyal panegyric to crown and country, it was meant to be read in the order indicated in the lines below:

1 The pomp of courts and pride of kings,
3 I prize above all earthly things,
5 I love my country, but the king --
7 Above all men his praise I sing,
9 The royal banner are displayed,
11 And may success the standard aid

2 I fain would banish far from hence,
4 The rights of man and common sense
6 Confusion to his odious reign
8 That foe of princes Thomas Paine
10 Defeat and ruin seize the cause,
12 Of France, its liberties and laws

Thomas Paine and Phillis Wheatley

2011-04-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Rosemary Braun for pointing this out:

"In April 1776, Thomas Paine published Phillis' poem to George Washington in The Pennsylvania Magazine."

Roberts, Jamie. "Phillis Wheatley's Journey to Greatness" in American Spirit 145:1 (Jan/Feb, 2011), pp. 46-48.

Thomas Paine on Natural Religion

2011-03-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

"It is only in the creation that all our ideas and conceptions of a word of God can unite. The creation speaketh a universal language, independently of human speech or human language, multiplied and various as they may be. It is an ever-existing original, which every man can read. It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it cannot altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not depend upon the will of man whether it shall be published or not: it publishes itself from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to man all that is necessary for man to know of God." Thomas Paine, Age of Reason, Pt. 1, 1794

New home for the Thomas Paine Collection in Iona College Library

2011-03-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

The collection of pamphlets, books, ephemera, artifacts, journals and other writings formerly the collection of the now defunct Thomas Paine Museum of New Rochelle, New York finally found an home at the Iona College Library. Amidst the controversy over the sell-off of some of its most valuable and rare holdings, the collection was first moved to the New York State Historical Society while what is known as a 511 Hearing took place in the Superior Court of the State of New York in order to determine the appropriate and safest site for relocation and care of the collection.

Friends of this blog will recall a number posts on the subject under discussion, among them

http://kenburchell.blogspot.com/2009/06/thomas-paine-museum-new-rochelle-update.html

A spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York later repudiated the notion that any kind of "deal" was made, preferred to speak in terms of an "agreement," and emphasized that all of the actions were "voluntary." As it turns out, all seven points of the supposedly voluntary agreement -- reported here on this blog -- have held true, with the result that what is now being called The Thomas Paine Collection was at last quietly moved to Iona College. Other than the new page or two on Iona College's website, there seems to have been little or no fanfare, not even a press release.

A point with regard to the name -- perhaps a bit overstated, it harks back to the bad old days of the body that formerly held the collection, the Thomas Paine National Historical Association (TPNHA) of now controversial if not permanently tarnished reputation. Back during the time when it was a functioning -- if mostly contentious -- organization, the Burton/McCartin "leadership" was forever generating inflated claims for the association and for Thomas Paine, among them the hoary old shibboleth of their cohort ... that it was Thomas Paine who actually "authored the Declaration of Independence." Perhaps there are echos of that same tendency to overstate in the present name for this assemblage of evidently 200 items, "The Thomas Paine Collection." A far more comprehensive and important collection of original Paine material, for example, is archived at the Library of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Colonel Richard Gimbel Collection of Thomas Paine Papers. On the other hand, some of the finest holdings of the TPNHA were disposed of in the controversial sell-off while other items they claimed -- such as Paine's writing-trunk, spectacles and other artifacts -- are, to the best of my knowledge, without provenance. Unless they can be positively documented, Paine's supposed ownership will be just another enormous but unsupportable claim. Certainly it would be wonderful if the trunk and other items prove to be Paine's, but even if the can be thus established, this is nothing like "THE Thomas Paine Collection." Just a suggestion -- perhaps it would be better to add a qualifier and call it "The Thomas Paine Collection at Iona College" or something along those lines.

More will doubtless follow. All Thomas Paine all the time here at the Thomas Paine Review.

Gilbert Vale on Thomas Paine

2011-03-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

"Other men have followed events; Paine actually created them." Gilbert Vale, The Life of Thomas Paine (New York: published by the author, 1839), p. 34.

Thomas Paine on wealth, riches, and affluence.

2011-03-09T11:45:00.001-08:00

‎"The contrast of affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye, is like dead and living bodies chained together. Though I care as little about riches as any man, I am a friend to riches because they are capable of good." Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice, 1797.

Thomas Paine to Rep. Peter King's on his Muslim Hearings

2011-03-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, 1795

Thomas Paine on natural religion, science, and superstion.

2011-02-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

"That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in His works, and is the true theology.

As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of human opinions and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the study of God Himself in the works that He has made, but in the works or writings that man has made; and it is not among the least of the mischiefs that the Christian system has done to the world, that it has abandoned the original and beautiful system of theology, like a beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to make room for the hag of superstition."

Thomas Paine, Age of Reason I, 1794.

Bill Moyers on Thomas Paine, Harvey J. Kaye, and Richard Brookhiser

2011-02-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

This review was originally posted on a livejournal.com spot that I had forgotten all about ... until someone replied to it just today. It's a right decent little review, I believe and it made me laugh out loud, so wanted to share it with you:

Bill Moyers on Thomas Paine, Harvey J. Kaye, and Richard Brookhiser

Finally got a chance to watch the Moyers/Paine broadcast
with Kaye and Brookhiser.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06122009/watch2.html

The intro by Moyers was marred with the usual "bull"
about Paine dying broke (he was quite well-off) and abandoned
(that's how people died in those days -- there WERE no
hospitals or hospice unless you were Catholic -- and
he wasn't "abandoned" any more than any elderly person
is when they die; we all die alone to some extent). Anyway,
the intro repeated the usual twaddle first grunted out
by Paine's enemies and repeated by every uncritical
commentator and author ever since. Bill, with the distinguished
historians you had there, I really believe you could have done
a better job. DISAPPOINTED!! 8^)

[I suppose I should drop Moyers a friendly email
a chide them a bit]

Brookhiser characterized the Girondin as a "bloody gang,"
repeating the old Anglophile/Francophobe hypocrisy-of-the-
ages ... as if ANY government (ours included) wasn't or
isn't "bloody." What? Burke's treasured British monarchy
wasn't bloody? Bloody hell! And what about Brookhiser's
heros? Bloody every one.

Harvey got his point in about Paine "quickly discovered the
'American spirit' and made it his own," a position that,
while open to careful criticism, is honestly defensible.

Kaye also used the correct response on the LETTER TO
GEORGE WASHINGTON, though with less force that
I would prefer. Washington was idolized when elected
and SCORNED AND HATED by half the populace when
he left office precisely for the reasons that Paine cites:
most notably the 1794 Jay Treaty. We should all memorize
the Antifederalist slogan:

Damn John Jay!
Damn everyone that won't damn John Jay!
Damn every one that won't put lights in his window
and sit up all night damning John Jay!

Washington's conduct
throughout that event was despicable. He was not at all
idolized by all and the virtual deification of Washington
largely occurred after his death. And while there is
no proof he knew Paine was in
prison, there is plenty of reason to think that he did
and no proof he didn't. Morris was Washington's
closest and most trusted friend and adviser and he
can be supposed to have been carrying out a policy
endorsed by Washington, whether Washington had
plausible deniability or not.

The discussion on AGE OF REASON was weak. In
defense of all three participants, however, it is a tricky subject. If AoR
destroyed Paine's reputation, how come it was such a
great best-seller here? It sold like hot-cakes, was almost
universally popular with university students and everybody
read it. Freethinkers of all political persuasions were not
put off. Yes, some Democratic-Republicans were offended,
but the Federalists used it to attack and discredit
Paine and Jefferson's democratic tendencies. Jefferson
was attacked just as hotly for his "infidelism" as Paine
was and, as someone on the panel pointed out, did not
write a best-selling book on the subject. As I wrote in
article in the current issue of FREE INQUIRY, "Paine
was attacked with the cudgel of religion
on account of his political views." That trend continues,
IMHO.

Originally posted http://paineite.livejournal.com/627.html?thread=883

Thomas Paine -- "An association of vices ..."

2011-01-30T14:54:00.001-08:00

"An association of vices will reduce us more than the sword." Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1780.

Thomas Paine birthday greeting

2011-01-29T11:41:00.000-08:00

The Thomas Paine Review greets all admirers of Paine today with warm best wishes on his 274th birthday anniversary. In honor of the occasion, we have posted an essay on the history of the Thomas Paine Birthday Celebrations on the pages just to the right of this post. See: Birthday Party Politics --->

Thomas Paine -- "If there must be trouble ..."

2011-01-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day that my child may have peace."
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1776.

Congress passes socialized health care and a mandate ... in 1798 !!

2011-01-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/17/congress-passes-socialized-medicine-and-mandates-health-insurance-in-1798/

The Nation Needs a Leader -- Thomas Paine Review

2011-01-19T21:48:00.000-08:00

In retrospect, LBJ looks a good deal more sympathetic (or just pathetic) by comparison to how I saw him then. I wasn't old enough to vote for him and sure as hell didn't support him. In 1968, we supported McCarthy -- we demonstrated against LBJ. Despised Bobby Kennedy ... can't even remember why for certain ... and in retrospect that looks harsh to me, too.

So I do try to show a little wisdom in dealing with Obama. But he's a great disappointment and, for my part, I attribute it to a failure of leadership on his part. The hand-writing was on the wall from the start. You don't get to be first black editor of the Harvard Law Review by stepping on people's toes. This guy has been a deal-maker from the get-go. Can you say .... "c-h-i-c-a-g-o...." sigh ...........

The nation needs a leader, but I fear the one we get will not be the one we need ... rather, it will be the one we deserve.

Thomas Paine's religious belief or creed.

2011-01-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

"IT has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts upon religion. I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a more advanced period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I should make to my fellow-citizens of all nations, and that at a time when the purity of the motive that induced me to it, could not admit of a question, even by those who might disapprove the work.

The circumstance that has now taken place in France of the total abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest in the general wreck of superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true.

As several of my colleagues and others of my fellow-citizens of France have given me the example of making their voluntary and individual profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this with all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communicates with itself.

I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

But, lest it should be supposed that I believe in many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and in order to qualify himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive any thing more destructive to morality than this?
Soon after I had published the pamphlet Common Sense, in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited by pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before the world; but that whenever this should be done, a revolution in the system of religion would follow. Human inventions and priestcraft would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more.

Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.

Each of those churches show certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say, that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say, that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all.

As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I proceed further into the subject, offer some other observations on the word revelation. Revelation, when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately from God to man.

No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.

It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication — after this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.
When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables of the commandments from the hands of God, they were not obliged to believe him, because they had no other authority for it than his telling them so; and I have no other authority for it than some historian telling me so. The commandments carry no internal evidence of divinity with them; they contain some good moral precepts, such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver, or a legislator, could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention."

Thomas Paine
Age of Reason, Part First, Section 1

Thomas Paine, Ronald Reagan, and Harvey J. Kaye on Thom Hartmann

2010-12-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

Harvey J. Kaye comments on the effort of the Right to own Thomas Paine and American revolutionary history ... and how Progressives can reclaim them both (Kaye begins at 9:00 minutes into the show ... you can skip to it):

http://www.thomhartmann.com/bigpicture/full-show-122710-media-love-affair-gop-financial-reform-block-top-5-political-idiots

Ron Paul gets it wrong

2010-12-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul gets it wrong: gold and silver currency is a chimera -- the wet dream of gold-bugs and crackpots. Public banking/Greenbackism is the solution to the present crisis. The question is who creates money and to whom does the interest return?

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/ron-paul-calls-fed-monopoly-seeks-competitor-dollar-standard/

Dime-store novelist Ayn Rand's sorry sycophants croak her weary refrain:

2010-12-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/facebook-founders-philanthropy-pledge-angers-ayn-rand-center/

Sarah Palin, Thomas Paine and the founders.

2010-12-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

Palin's new book the usual a-historical nonsense:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/20101205_Sarah_Palin_reveals_herself.html?viewAll=y

Thomas Paine -- "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be."

2010-12-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation
in principle is always a vice." Thomas Paine, RIGHTS OF MAN II, 1792.

Harvey J. Kaye and Martha Stewart -- LISTEN UP, PRES. OBAMA !!

2010-12-07T13:19:00.000-08:00

http://www.newdeal20.org/2010/12/07/listen-up-president-obama-martha-stewart-has-good-advice-for-you-29031/

The Right's Rotten History by Harvey J. Kaye

2010-11-20T19:34:00.001-08:00

http://www.newdeal20.org/2010/11/16/the-rights-rotten-history-27079/?author=166

Thomas Paine v. Dick Morris

2010-11-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

The little tiff in New Rochelle between the Huguenot and Historical Society, who have just decided to initiate a Thomas Paine Award of some sort and the same (in my opinion) dunderheads at the TPNHA who sold off the prize holdings (now in private and anonymous hands) of the Paine Museum. The writer of this article makes a mistake or two, for which he is forgiven. For one thing, John Adams did NOT write (regardless of what the plaque outside the cottage states) that ""Without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain." That was penned by Joel Barlow. Paine, moreover, not only believed in government intervention, he advocated, as shown in this blog a 100% tax on income over what would be something like 3.25 million dollars per annum. Nevertheless, for the interest of our readers:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/16/history-us-politics?showallcomments=true#end-of-comments

Congressman Ron Paul on airport scanners

2010-11-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

This bears recognition and I personally believe that Tom Paine would approve:

"[W]e have to realize that the real problem is that the American people have been too submissive. We have been too submissive. It has been going on for a long time. ... [T]he bill that I have introduced ... is very simple. It is one paragraph long. It removes the immunity from anybody in the Federal government that does anything that you or I can't do.

If you can't grope another person and if you can't X-ray people and endanger them with possible X-rays, [and] you can't take nude photographs of individuals, why do we allow the government to do it? We would go to jail. He would be immediately arrested, if an individual citizen went up and did these things, and yet we just sit there and calmly say, 'oh, they are making us safe.'

And besides, the argument from the executive branch is that when you buy a ticket, you have sacrificed your rights and it is the duty of the government to make us safe. That isn't the case. You never have to sacrifice your rights. The duty of the government is to protect our rights, not to use them and do what they have been doing to us." - -- Ron Paul - (1935-) American physician, US Congressman (R-TX), US Presidential candidate - Source: Congressional Record, Nov. 17, 2010

Thomas Paine -- schoolmaster v. priest.

2010-11-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

"One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests." Thomas Paine, Worship and Church Bells, 1797.

Thomas Paine on property and privelege

2010-11-12T22:06:00.001-08:00

"... when property is made a pretense for unequal or exclusive rights,
it weakens the right to hold the property, and provokes indignation
and tumult; for it is unnatural to believe that property can be secure
under the guarantee of a society injured in its rights by the
influence of that property." Thomas Paine - Dissertation on First
Principles of Government, 1795.

Nature does not bestow virtue - Seneca

2010-09-30T10:33:00.001-07:00

Nature does not bestow virtue; to be good is an art.

-- Seneca Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales

Another bogus quote: "It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government."

2010-09-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Tea-bagger membership is supposedly at least modestly educated. If so, I've yet to see any evidence of it. The latest is their widespread attribution of the above quotation to Thomas Paine. It's now gone viral, plastered all over the WWW. You won't find it in any of Paine's works because he simply never said nor wrote it. The actual quote is (drum roll, please) .....

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.” Edward Abbey A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis en Deserto) : Notes from a Secret Journal (1990) ISBN 0312064888

Personally, I rather enjoy Abbey's ideas, but I wonder if the Tea-Bagging Nation out there would be all that happy to be associated with him!

Thomas Paine on wealth and economic justice.

2010-09-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

"I care not how affluent some may be, provided that none be miserable
in consequence of it. But it is impossible to enjoy affluence with the
felicity it is capable of being enjoyed, while so much misery is
mingled in the scene.

The sight of the misery, and the unpleasant sensations it suggests,
which, though they may be suffocated cannot be extinguished, are a
greater drawback upon the felicity of affluence than the proposed ten
per cent upon property is worth.

He that would not give the one to get rid of the other has no charity,
even for himself.

There are, in every country, some magnificent charities established by
individuals. It is, however, but little that any individual can do,
when the whole extent of the misery to be relieved is considered.
He may satisfy his conscience, but not his heart. He may give all that
he has, and that all will relieve but little. It is only by organizing
civilization upon such principles as to act like a system of pulleys,
that the whole weight of misery can be removed."

-Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice, 1797.

Glenn Beck -- recent Beckapalooza

2010-09-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

By any credible source, he only mustered about 85,000 + or - to his latest Beckapalooza. That's penny-ante. The concern of people like you and I must be for the demagogue to come who will, if Amerika continues down its present course, head a legion of hatred and fear much greater and more disastrous to Progressives and indeed all honest citizens.

People ask all the time: "What would Tom Paine do?"

2010-08-07T17:46:00.001-07:00

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0807/wikileaks-promises-more-documents/

Paine, taxation and redistribution

2010-07-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

In reply to a correspondent and friend on:

Thanks for the note, S. The point, it seems
to me, is that here (Rights of Man II) we have
Paine recommending a confiscatory tax above a
certain income level -- £23,000/annum. The currency
calculator that I used indicated that in so-called real
dollars today 2010 that would translate to a bit over 3 million.

1792 is only midpoint in Paine's public career
and he's already moved beyond Adam Smith and
embraced the need for redistribution of wealth
and power. Midpoint in his career. He still has Agrarian Justice
and Dissertation on First Principles of Government
to write -- both of which discuss the dangers of and
potential remedies to the property and capital system-- and
his even later eight Letters to the Citizens of the United
States where he condemned monopoly,
undue corporate influence, usury, military
procurement fraud and the whole host of
predatory pests that plagued the young republic
and plague still its ever thinning shadow.

Paine embraced commerce as a visible representation
of what he called "society" or man's greatest blessing.
But he was no libertarian.

"... when property is made a pretense for unequal or exclusive rights,
it weakens the right to hold the property, and provokes indignation
and tumult; for it is unnatural to believe that property can be secure
under the guarantee of a society injured in its rights by the
influence of that property." Thomas Paine - Dissertation on First Principles of Government, 1795.

--
© Kenneth W. Burchell 2010, All Rights Reserved

How Glenn Beck Warped Extreme Liberal Thomas Paine into a Teabagger

2010-07-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Vermont T. for the link to this well written and cogent commentary by Hrafnkell Haraldsson:
http://www.politicususa.com/en/beck-thomas-paine

Thomas Jefferson feared a corporate aristocracy.

2010-07-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

NEWS FLASH!! So did Thomas Paine, who comes in for mention in this article:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/37038/thomas-jefferson-feared-aristocracy-corporations

Thanks to zenyatta for this one, too!

Eight historic symbols that do NOT mean what you think!

2010-07-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

For Thomas Paine, see No. 5:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18606_8-historic-symbols-that-mean-opposite-what-you-think.html

thanks to zenyatta for this link!

Thomas Paine statue, Lewes, E. Sussex, UK detail

2010-07-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Here's another great detail shot of the new statue of Thomas Paine in Lewes, East Sussex, UK sent in by Thomas Paine friend Micheal Turner and originally found on the great Lewes website at http://www.vivalewes.com/home/

New statue of Thomas Paine -- Lewes

2010-07-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

This just in. Photo compliments of Michael Turner, UK friend of Thomas Paine.

From another friend in the UK, we learn that the sculpture sits on the steps approaching the public library in Lewes, that it cost £39 thousand pounds, being commissioned and paid for by local resident, Janet Mortimer.

See posts below for further information and photos.

Mummers and dignitaries at the unveiling of the new Lewes statue of Thomas Paine.

2010-07-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Mummers and dignitaries at the unveiling of the new statue of Thomas Paine raised in Lewes, East Sussex, UK on July 5, 2010. From left to right:

Kirrily Long as Elizabeth Ollive

Jennifer Henley as Mrs Ollive

Mike Turner - author of Mummers Play and Mayor of Lewes

Paul Myles as King George III (author of Tom Paine In Lewes)

Peter Field, Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex

Mike Fitzgerald as Samuel Ollive

John Ford as George Lewes Scott

Simon Hellyer as Thomas Paine

Barrie Smith as Henry Verrall

Photo and info courtesy of Michael Turner, UK friend of Thomas Paine.

First photo of the new statue of Thomas Paine in Lewes

2010-07-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

The new terracotta statue is visible in the background. In front are Paul Myles (a member of the Thomas Paine Society), who as George the Third was taking part in a humorous mummers play on Paine and the Officers of Excise that was performed as part of the ceremony, Mike Taylor, the Mayor of Lewes, Robert Morrell, secretary of the UK Thomas Paine Society, and Simon Hellyer, who played Paine.The photo was kindly forwarded by Robert Morrell, secretary of the Thomas Paine Society and editor of the Journal of Radical History and the society's other publications.

New statue of Thomas Paine -- Lewes

2010-07-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to a BBC article on the unveiling. The
video of sculptor Marcus Cornish and the statue-in-progress
doesn't seem to work well. Will publish a link or photo as
soon as it arrives.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/sussex/10507823.stmd

Who are our nation's hero's? Thomas Paine scores high!

2010-07-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

In nationwide study of 3000 High School students, Thomas Paine scores right next to Martin Luther King:

Thomas Jefferson was the first choice with 18 percent, followed by Abraham Lincoln at 14 percent, Martin Luther King, Jr. at 10 percent and Thomas Paine with nine percent.

http://www.recordernewspapers.com/articles/2010/07/01/hunterdon_review/opinion/editorial/doc4c29174c50116669272493.txt

Question: Thomas Paine and income tax

2010-06-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a question that I noted some years back
when first I read this book and it has pestered
my mind ever since. Can anyone answer this?

In Iorwerth Prothero's ARTISANS AND POLITICS
IN EARLY 19TH CENTURY LONDON: JOHN GAST
AND HIS TIMES (U. of Louisiana Press, 1979), the
author makes the claim that Thomas Paine wanted
the British taxation system to be "replaced by an
income tax which above £23,000 a year should
be 100%."

Is Prothero correct? Honestly, I don't recall it, if so.
As I recall, Paine proposes a tax of 20 Shillings per
pound for the £23,000 estate and hoped it would
encourage the break-up or sell-off large holdings.

Laurie Anderson does Thomas Paine.

2010-06-18T17:05:00.001-07:00

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-laurie-anderson-homeland-nonesuch-2003151.html

And another warm thanks for the link to frequent contributor
and Paine friend Harvey J. Kaye.

Thomas Paine, folk music, and human rights.

2010-06-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to historian and Thomas Paine biographer
Harvey J. Kaye for forwarding this very fine article at:

http://www.folkworks.org/content/view/35703/106/

Paine portrait vandalized 2.

2010-06-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

Don't miss the latest details. Just click on the link to the right of this post entitled "A Mystery of Two Portraits of Paine" or just click this link http://kenburchell.blogspot.com/p/mystery-of-two-paine-portraits.html

Thomas Paine portrait vandalized.

2010-06-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

An attempt has been made to contact the curators at the museum
in order to determine the nature of the "portrait" (most likely a print)
and details of the incident.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/12/1676872/vandalism-discovered-at-central.html

Thomas Paine on vice.

2010-06-16T15:09:00.001-07:00

"An association of vices will reduce us more than the sword." Thomas Paine, American Crisis IX, 1780.

Thomas Paine on property rights.

2010-06-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

"There could be no such thing as landed property originally. Man did not make the earth, and though he had a natural right to occupy it, he had no right to locate as his property in perpetuity on any part of it." Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice, 1796.

Thomas Paine on pre-emptive war.

2010-06-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

"And were America, instead of becoming an example to the Old World of good and moral government and civil manners, or, if they like it better, of gentlemanly conduct toward other nations, to set up the character of ruffian, that of word and blow, and the blow first, and thereby give the example of pulling down the little that civilization has gained upon barbarism, her independence, instead of being an honor and a blessing, would become a curse upon the world and upon herself." Thomas Paine, To the Citizens of the United States VI, 1802-1806.

Thomas Paine on war profiteering.

2010-06-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

"That persons who are hunting after places, offices and contracts, should be advocates for war, taxes and extravagance, is not to be wondered at; but that so large a portion of the people who had nothing to depend upon but their industry, and no other public prospect but that of paying taxes, and bearing the burden, should be advocates for the same measures, is a thoughtlessness not easily accounted for. " Thomas Paine, To the Citizens of the United States VII, 1802-1806.

Thomas Paine on silence and guilt.

2010-05-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

"Silence becomes a kind of crime when it operates as a cover
or an encouragement to the guilty." -- Thomas Paine, Pennsylvania Packet, January 23, 1779.

Thomas Paine on voting rights and representation.

2010-05-28T10:02:00.001-07:00

"The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected." Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, 1795.

Thomas Paine on terror, war and sedition.

2010-05-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

"The country, during the time of the former Administration, was kept in continual agitation and alarm; and that no investigation might be made into its conduct, it intrenched itself within a magic circle of terror, and called it a SEDITION LAW. Violent and mysterious in its measures and arrogant in its manners, it affected to disdain information, and insulted the principles that raised it from obscurity." Thomas Paine, To the Citizens of the United States VI, 1802-1806.

Thomas Paine on poverty.

2010-05-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

"Poverty is a thing created by that which is called civilized life. It exists not in the natural state." Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice, 1796.

Thomas Paine on religion and equal rights.

2010-05-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

"Every history of creation, and every traditionary account, whether from the lettered or the unlettered world, however they may vary in their opinion on belief of certain particulars, all agree in establishing one point, the unity of mankind; by which I mean that man is all of one degree, and consequently that all men are born equal, and with equal natural rights." Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1792.

Thomas Paine on government and religion

2010-05-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

"As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of government to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government has to do therewith." Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776.

Thomas Paine on Commerce

2010-05-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

"Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defense. Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776.

All Thomas Paine all the time.

2010-05-16T22:22:00.001-07:00

That's what this blog ...

Thomas Paine Circle, AZ

2010-05-16T09:20:00.001-07:00

http://tinyurl.com/29azoub

Review of Thomas Paine -- A Collection of Unknown Writings, ed. Hazel Burgess, London: Palgrave McMillan, 2010.

2010-05-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

The full review as originally published in the Journal of Radical History is found on this blog here:

http://kenburchell.blogspot.com/p/review-of-thomas-paine-collection-of.html

Thomas Paine Exhibit opens in Thetford

2010-05-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

A NEW exhibition about Thomas Paine, his life and works, will be launched at the Charles Burrell Museum in Thetford at midday on Saturday, May 15. Link at:

http://tinyurl.com/25j5v3f

Burchell on mankind

2010-04-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

"Man is the animal who thinks he is not an animal." Kenneth W. Burchell.

Thomas Paine on republican virtue.

2010-04-29T13:32:00.001-07:00

"When republican virtue fails, slavery ensues." Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776.

Thomas Paine on Government.

2010-04-28T12:22:00.001-07:00

"Governments, so far from being always the cause or means of order, are often the destruction of it." Thomas Paine, Rights of Man II, 1792.

Review of Thomas Paine -- A Collection of Unknown Writings, ed. Hazel Burgess, London: Palgrave McMillan, 2010.

2010-04-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Just posted to this blog, a review of Thomas Paine -- A Collection of Unknown Writings, ed. Hazel Burgess, London: Palgrave McMillan, 2010. Just click on the right on the upper right hand side of this page to read in its entirety.

Thomas Paine on morality.

2010-04-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

"As for morality, the knowledge of it exists in every man's conscience." Age of Reason II, 1795.

Thomas Paine on taxes and war.

2010-04-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

“In reviewing the history of the English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice nor warped by interest, would declare that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.” Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, pt I, 1791.

Thomas Paine on Ideas

2010-04-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

"Let but a single idea begin and a thousand will soon follow." Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, 1795.