Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was a British-American political writer, pamphleteer, and revolutionary. Born in Thetford, he supported the independence of the thirteen British colonies in North America during the American Revolution. He is best known for the political pamphlet “Common Sense,” published in 1776, a few months before the signing of the American Declaration of Independence. In “The Age of Reason” (1793–1794), Paine examined Christianity and argued for deist positions. In “Agrarian Justice” (1795), he analyzed the origins of property rights and developed ideas resembling the concept of a basic or universal income.