Dr. Joseph B. Ladd:
"Immortal Paine! whose pen, surprised we saw,
Could fashion empires while it kindled awe.
"When first with awful front to crush her foes,
All bright in glittering arms, Columbia rose,
From thee our sons the generous mandate took,
As if from Heaven some oracle had spoke;
And when thy pen revealed the grand design,
'Twas done—Columbia's liberty was thine."
W. C. Braun: "From the brain of Thomas Paine Columbia sprang full panoplied, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter."
"Paine was the prophet of American destiny."—George Jacob Holyoake.
"Thomas Paine is one of those men who most contributed to the establishment of a Republic in America."—Abbe Sieyes.
Century Dictionary: "Took a prominent part in support of the American Revolution."
"A principal actor in the American Revolution."—M. Thiers, President Third Republic of France.
John Clark Ridpath, LL. D.: "The Morning Star of the Revolution."
Hon. William Willett: "The first champion of American liberty."
Blackie's Modern Cyclopedia (England): "One of the founders of American Independence."
"The apostle of American Independence."—M. de Lamartine.
William Cobbett: "I saw Paine first pointing the way and then leading a nation through perils and difficulties of all sorts to independence and to lasting liberty, prosperity and greatness."
"Paine was the first voice in America that was imperial."—George W. Foote.
Theodore Roosevelt: "Thomas Paine, the famous author of 'Common Sense.'"
Edmund Burke: "That celebrated pamphlet which prepared the minds of the people for Independence."
Egerton Ryerson, LL. D.: "The sudden and marvelous revolution in the American mind was produced chiefly by a pamphlet."
George Bancroft: "Franklin encouraged Thomas Paine,... who was the master of a singularly lucid and fascinating style, to write an appeal to the people of America."
"With a soul kindled into one steady blaze, he plies that fast-moving quill. That quill puts down words on paper, words that shall burn into the brains of kings like arrows winged with fire and pointed with vitriol. Go on, brave author, sitting in your garret alone at this dead hour, go on, on through the silent hours, on and God's blessings fall like breezes of June upon your damp brow, on and on, for you are writing the thoughts of a nation into birth."—George Lippard.
Pennsylvania Journal (January 10, 1776): "This day was published and is now selling by Robert Bell, in Third street, price two shillings, 'Common Sense addressed to the inhabitants of North America.'"
From this book came the world's first and greatest republic, the first realization of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Eloquently he pleads for separation and independence:
"The birthday of a new world is at hand."
"Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'Tis time to part."
"The independence of America should have been considered as dating its era from, and published by, the first musket that was fired against her."
"O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger and England hath given her warning to depart. O receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind."
Benjamin Franklin: "A pamphlet that had prodigious effects."
Justin Winsor: "It was printed and reprinted in Philadelphia in English and once in German, and in the same year reprinted in Salem, Newbury-port, Providence, Boston, Newport, New York, Charleston, and also in London and Edinburgh."
Rev. Ashbel Green, D. D, (Chaplain to Congress): "The pamphlet had a greater run than any other ever published in our country."
William Massey, M. P.: "'Common Sense' had an immense circulation."
Francis Bowen, A. M.: "It had an enormous sale."
Historians' History of the World: "More than one hundred thousand copies of his 'Common Sense' were sold in a short time."
Prof. John Fiske: "More than a hundred thousand copies were speedily sold, and it carried conviction wherever it went."
Salmonsen's Conversationslexicon: "It had an immense sale (120,000 copies) and exerted an enormous influence."
Samuel M. Jackson, D.D., LL.D.: "'Common Sense' (120,000 copies were sold in the first three months) struck the keynote of the situation by advocating Independence and a Republican form of government."
(Referring to the sale of "Common Sense," Paine's biographer, Dr. Moncure D. Conway, says: "In the end probably half a million copies were sold.")
Eben Greenough Scott: "It was a plea for independence and a continental government."
Best of the World's Classics: "In this work Paine advocated complete separation from England."
Nordisk Familjebok Konversationslexicon: "He as boldly as convincingly sh owed the necessity of the Colonies tearing themselves away from England."
Rev. Charles E. Little: "His 'Common Sense' was widely circulated and greatly aided the Revolution by showing the importance and necessity of seeking independence."
Robert Bissett, LL. D.: "'Common Sense,' published [written] by Thomas Paine, afterwards so famous in Europe, contributed very much to the ratification of the independence of America."
John Frost, LL.D.: "It demonstrated the necessity, advantages, and practicability of independence."
Dr. George Weber: "Written in an eminently popular style it had an immense circulation, and was of great service in preparing the minds of the people for Independence."
Henry Howard Brownell: "The book was extensively circulated, and exercised, beyond question, a most powerful influence."
Robert Mackenzie: "His treatise had, for those days, a vast circulation and an extraordinary influence."
Oscar Fay Adams: "His famous pamphlet 'Common Sense' was of great service to the Americans."
Eva M. Tappan: "Its clear and logical arguments were a power in bringing on the war."
D. H. Montgomery: "Paine boldly said that the time had come for a 'final separation' from England, and that 'arms must decide the contest.'"
Rev. John Schroeder, D.D.: "'Common Sense,' from the pen of Thomas Paine, produced a wonderful effect in the different colonies in favor of Independence."
Woodrow Wilson: "Pamphlets which argued with slow and sober power gave place to pamphlets which rang with passionate appeals: which thrust constitutional argument upon one side and spoke flatly for independence. One such took precedence of all others, whether for boldness or for power, the extraordinary pamphlet which Thomas Paine, but the other day come out of England as if upon mere adventure, gave to the world as 'Common Sense.'"
American Reference Library: "'Common Sense,' more than any other single writing furnished the logical basis of Independence."
"'Common Sense' first formulated the demand for Independence."—The Nation (London).
Benson J. Lossing, LL.D.: "It was the earliest and most powerful appeal in behalf of Independence, and probably did more to fix that idea firmly in the public mind than any other instrumentality."
Richard Hildreth: "It argued in that plain and convincing style for which Paine was so distinguished."
Edmund Randolph: "A style hitherto unknown on this side of the Atlantic."
Charles Kendall Adams, LL.D: "A work which had great influence on the Colonists."
"The success and influence of this publication was extraordinary, and it won for him the friendship of Washington, Franklin and other distinguished American leaders."—Chambers' Encyclopedia.
J. Franklin Jameson, LL.D.: "'Common Sense'... exerted a profound impression."
John T. Morse, Jr.: "Thomas Paine had sent 'Common Sense' abroad among the people and had stirred them profoundly."
Lord Stanhope: "That publication had produced a strong effect."
Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D., LL.D.: "'Common Sense', written by Thomas Paine, produced great effect."
John Howard Hinton: "'Common Sense' from the popular pen of Thomas Paine produced a wonderful effect in the different colonies in favor of independence."
Dr. David Ramsey: "In union with the feelings and sentiments of the people it produced surprising effects."
Rev. George E. Ellis, D.D.: "Of mighty cogency in its tone and substance, was that vigorous work of Thomas Paine."
Rev. Jesse A. Spencer, D.D.: "The style, manner and matter of his pamphlet were calculated to rouse all the energies of human nature."
William Grimshaw: "'Common Sense' roused the public feeling to a degree unequalled by any previous appeal."
Hand Book of American Revolution: "It affected sensibly the current of political feeling."
Barnes's Centenary History: "It produced a profound impression."
"The clear and powerful style of Paine made a prodigious impression on the American people."—Thomas Gaspey.
Charles Morris: "Its stirring tones filled all minds with the thirst for liberty."
Nouvelle Biographie Generale (France): "The pamphlet produced a prodigious effect."
"The success of this writing of Paine," says the Italian patriot and historian, Charles Botta, "cannot be described."
W. H. Bartlett: "This pamphlet produced an indescribable sensation."
John Andrews, LL.D.: "It was received with vast applause."
Timothy Pitkins: "'Common Sense' produced a wonderful effect in the different Colonies in favor of Independence."
Rev. William Gordon: "Nothing could have been better timed than this performance."
Boston Gazette (April 29, 1776): "Had the spirit of prophecy directed the birth of a publication it could not have fallen on a more fortunate period than the time in which 'Common Sense' made its appearance."
"In the elements of its strength it was precisely fitted to the hour, to the spot and to the passions."—Prof. Moses Coit Tyler.
Melville M. Bigelow: "No pamphlet was so timely, none had such an effect."
Prof. C. A. Van Tyne: "It was a firebrand which set aflame the ready political material in America."
"Every living man in America in 1776 who could read, read 'Common Sense.'... This book was the arsenal to which colonists went for their mental weapons."—Theodore Parker.
Mrs. Robert Burns Peattie: "Men, women and children read it. It was for them an education."
C. W. A. Veditz, LL.B.: "The work of Paine became the text book of the new era."
Sydney G. Fisher: "Its phrases became household words on the lips of every man in the patriot party."
Henry W. Edson: "Its concise, simple and unanswerable style won thousands to the cause."
Edward Channing: "It was read and debated in smithy and shop and converted thousands."
Henry Eldridge Bourne and Elbert Jay Benton: "Much that Paine wrote was so simple, so convincing, such 'common sense,' that thousands read it and concluded that separation was necessary."
William Cullen Bryant and Sydney Howard Gay: "Everybody read it and nearly everybody was influenced by it."
Pennsylvania Evening Post (March 17, 1776): "'Common Sense' hath made independents of the majority of the country."
Almon's Remembrancer (1776): "'Common Sense' is read by all ranks; and as many as read, so many become converted."
"'Common Sense' has converted thousands to Independence who could not endure the idea before."
(Where two or more paragraphs of testimony follow the name of a witness, all of the testimony cited, unless otherwise credited, belongs to the witness named.)
William Robinson (to Nathan Hafle, Feb. 17, 1776): "Upon my word, it is well done.... I confess a perusal of it has much reformed my notions."
Joseph Hawley (to Elbridge Gerry, Feb. 18, 1776): "I have read the pamphlet entitled 'Common Sense, Addressed to the Inhabitants of America.' and every sentiment has sunk into my well-prepared heart."
"By private letters which I have lately received from Virginia, I find that 'Common Sense' is working a powerful change there in the minds of many men."—George Washington.
Rev. John Drayton: "Colonel Gadsden (having brought the first copy of Paine's pamphlet 'Common Sense') boldly declared himself [in the Provincial Congress at Charleston, Feb. 10, 1776] for the absolute Independence of America. This last sentiment came like an explosion of thunder on the members."
Bitterly as the Colonists opposed the tyranny of the English Government there were no manifestations of disloyalty. If they harbored the thought of separation and independence no tongue or pen had dared to give expression to it. Referring to this period Hon. Alexander H. Stephens says: "Neither did Livingston, nor Washington, nor any of the prominent leaders in the cause of the Colonists at that time look to anything but a redress of grievances. None were looking to a final separation and Independence."
"When I first took command of the army," says Washington, "I abhorred the idea of Independence." When admonished that continued resistance to the crown might lead to separation, he replied: "If you ever hear of me joining in any such measures you have my leave to set me down for everything wicked." While Paine was writing his "Common Sense," Jefferson, the reputed author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote that he was "looking with fondness toward a reconciliation with Great Britain." But a little while before Franklin had assured Lord Chatham that "he had never heard in America an expression in favor of Independence."
Virginia, the province of Washington and Jefferson, declared in favor of "a redress of grievances, and not a revolution of government." In November, 1775, the Assembly of Pennsylvania, Franklin's province, elected a delegation to the Continental Congress with these instructions: "Though the British Parliament and administration have compelled us to resist their violence by force of arms, yet we strictly enjoin that you dissent from and utterly reject any proposition, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from the mother country."
"Among them all not one had been stirred by that splendid dream of a new nation, a nation independent and free. There was but one mind and only one that had grasped the great plan. There was one voice crying in the wilderness. There was one herald of the dawn, one that did not hesitate in that night of hesitancy and reluctancy."—Dr. J. E. Roberts.
Dr. David Ramsay, a prominent leader in the Continental Congress and a popular historian of the Revolution, describing the effects of "Common Sense," says: "Though that measure [Separation] a few months before was not only foreign to their wishes, but the object of their abhorrence, the current suddenly became so strong in its favor that it bore down all before it."
Prof. Moses Coit Tyler: "In one sentiment all persons, Tories and Whigs, seemed perfectly to agree, viz., in abhorrence of the project of separation from the Empire. Suddenly, however, and within a period of less than six months [chiefly as a result of Paine's pamphlet] the majority of the Whigs turned completely around, and openly declared for Independence."
"Thomas Paine brought to the study of the American Revolution a mind... quick to see into things, and marvelous in its power of stating them with lucidity, with liveliness and with incisive force."
It is generally supposed that the writing of "Common Sense" with its advocacy of separation and independence was suggested by Franklin. It was not; Franklin knew nothing of its existence prior to its publication. What he suggested was a history of Colonial affairs which he believed would convince the world that the grievances of the Colonists against the mother country were just. Paine's own account of the origin of this work is as follows:
"In October, 1775, Dr. Franklin proposed giving me such materials as were in his hands towards completing a history of the present transactions, and seemed desirous of having the first volume out the next spring.. I had then formed the outlines of 'Common Sense,' and finished nearly the first part; and as I supposed the doctor's design in getting out a history was to open the new year with a new system, I expected to surprise him with a production on that subject much earlier than he thought of; and without informing him of what I was doing, got it ready for the press as fast as I conveniently could, and sent him the first pamphlet that was printed off."
Regarding the originality of his revolutionary ideas, "Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography" says: "Beyond doubt Washington, Franklin, and all other prominent men of the Revolutionary period gave Paine the sole credit for everything that came from his pen."
Washington, Franklin and Jefferson were among Paine's earliest converts. Franklin gave his book his immediate approval, and Jefferson's endorsement soon followed. Washington, writing to Joseph Reed in the same month that it was published, acknowledged its "sound doctrine and unanswerable reasoning," and declared for separation.
"Jefferson, Washington and Franklin, who up to that time [publication of 'Common Sense'] had denounced even the thought of Independence,... all changed front, and soon, not a majority, but the effective part of the people, followed."—T. B. Wakeman.
"Washington, now converted, wrote to his friends in praise of 'Common Sense'... Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin, Madison, all the great statesmen of the time, wrote praisefully of Paine's 'flaming arguments.'"—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
"Leaders in the New York Provincial Congress considered the advisability of answering it but came to the conclusion that it was unanswerable."—Encyclopedia Britannica.
An Unknown Writer of Charleston, S. C. (Feb. 14, 1776): "Who is the author of 'Common Sense'? I can hardly refrain from adoring him. He deserves a statue of gold."
Abigail Adams: "I am charmed with the sentiments of 'Common Sense,' and wonder how an honest heart, one who wishes the welfare of his country and the happiness of posterity, can hesitate one moment at adopting them."
"'Common Sense,' like a ray of revelation, has come in season to clear our doubts and fix our choice."
John Winthrop: "If Congress should adopt its sentiments it would satisfy the people."
"The public mind was now fully educated to accept the doctrine of Independence.... Thomas Paine's celebrated pamphlet 'Common Sense' had sapped the foundation of any remaining loyalty to the British Crown."—John Clark Ridpath, LL. D.
Prof. Alexander Johnston: "Thomas Paine turned the scale by the publication of his pamphlet 'Common Sense'."
Richard Frothingham: "The great question which it treated was now discussed at every fireside; and the favorite toast at every dinner table was; 'May the independent principles of 'Common Sense' be confirmed throughout the United Colonies.'"
Henry Clay Watson: "'Common Sense' effected a complete revolution in the feelings and sentiments of the great mass of the people."
Rev. Jedediah Morse. "The change of the public mind on this occasion is without a parallel."
Dr. Benjamin Rush: "'Common Sense' burst from the press with an effect which has rarely been produced by types and paper in any age or country."
Hon. Salma Hale: "The effect of the pamphlet in making converts was astonishing, and is probably without precedent in the annals of literature."
James Cheetham (Paine's basest calumniator): "Speaking a language which the colonists had felt but not thought, its popularity, terrible in its consequences to the parent country, was unexampled in the history of the press."
General Charles Lee: "Have you [Washington] seen the pamphlet 'Common Sense'? I never saw such a masterly irresistible performance."
"He burst forth on the world like Jove in thunder."
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History: "Its trumpet tones awakened the continent, and made every patriot's heart beat with intense emotion."
J. Dorman Steele, Ph. D.: "Every line glowed with the spirit of liberty, and men's hearts were thrilled as they read."
Larned's Ready Reference History: "A more effective popular appeal never went to the bosoms of a nation.... Its effect was instantaneous and tremendous."
Henry Cabot Lodge: "The pamphlet marked an epoch, was a very memorable production; from the time of its publication the tide flowing in the direction of independence began to race with devouring swiftness to high water mark."
Encyclopedia Britannica (10th Ed.)—"There is a complete concurrence of testimony that Paine's pamphlet issued on the first of January, 1776, was a turning point in the struggle, that it roused and consolidated public feeling, and swept waverers along with the tide."
Prof. Goldwin Smith: "Colonial resolution had been screwed to the sticking point by Tom Paine, the stormy petrel of three countries, with his pamphlet 'Common Sense.'"
Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews: "Most potent of all as a cause of the resolution to separate was Thomas Paine's pamphlet 'Common Sense'."
"No writing ever more instantly swung men to its humor."—Woodrow Wilson.
Mary L. Booth: "This eloquent production severed the last link that bound the Colonies to the mother country."
Mary Howitt: "The cause of Independence took as it were a definite form from this moment."
Guilliam Tell Poussin: "It rendered the sentiment of Independence national."
"The notion of a new State, wholly free from Great Britain, first found full and convincing expression in Paine's 'Common Sense'."—London Times.
Gen. William A. Stokes: "When 'Common Sense' was published a great blow was struck. It was felt from New England to the Carolinas; it resounded throughout the world."
The sympathy and assistance of liberty-loving Europeans contributed much to the success of the Revolution, and this was due largely to the influence of Paine's "Common Sense," which was printed in nearly every tongue and read in nearly every country of Continental Europe. Even in England thousands of copies were circulated, and the American party, the party of Chatham, Fox and Burke, was greatly strengthened, while the influence of the king and his ministry was correspondingly weakened by the effect of its masterly arguments.
Lord Erskine: "In that great and calamitous conflict, Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine fought in the same field together, but with very different success. Mr. Burke spoke to a Parliament in England, such as Sir George Saville describes it, having no ears but for sounds that flattered its corruptions. Mr. Paine, on the other hand, spoke to the people, reasoned with them, told them they were bound by no subjection to any sovereignty further than their own benefit connected them, and, by these powerful arguments, prepared the minds of the American people for that glorious, just, and happy Revolution."
Marquis de Chastelleaux: "Since my arrival in America I had not yet seen Mr. Paine, that author so celebrated in America and throughout Europe by his excellent work entitled 'Common Sense.' Lafayette and myself had asked the permission of an interview, and we waited on him accordingly with Col. Laurens.... His patriotism and his talents are unquestionable."
W. E. H. Lecky: "Paine's 'Common Sense'... was translated into French, and was, if possible, even more popular in France than in America."
"The work ran through innumerable editions in America and France. The world rang with it."—Hon. Henry S. Randall.
Silas DeAne: "'Common Sense' has been translated, and has had a greater run here [in France] than in America. A person of distinction, writing to his noble friend in office, has these words: 'I think, with you, my dear Count, that "Common Sense" is an excellent work, and that its author is one of the greatest legislators among the million writers that we know.'"
Sir George Trevelyan: "It would be difficult to name any human composition which has had an effect at once so instant, so extended, and so lasting. It flew through numberless editions. It was pirated, and parodied, and imitated, and translated into the language of every country where the new Republic had well-wishers, and could hope to procure allies.... It was reprinted in all the Colonies with a frequency surprising at a time when Colonial printing houses were very few. Three months from its first appearance, a hundred and twenty thousand copies had been sold in America alone; and, before the demand ceased, it was calculated that half a million had seen the light."
"Paine saw beyond precedents and statutes, and constitutional facts or fictions, into the depths of human nature; and he knew that, if men are to fight to the death, it must be for reasons which all can understand."
John Adams: "'Common Sense' was received in France and in all Europe with rapture."
"History is to ascribe the Revolution to Thomas Paine." (Letter to Thomas Jefferson).
John Quincy Adams: "Paine's 'Common Sense' crystalized public opinion and was the first factor in bringing about the Revolution."
Samuel Adams: "Your 'Common Sense'... unquestionably awakened the public mind, and led the people loudly to call for a Declaration of our National Independence."
Parker Pillsbury: "Without his 'Common Sense,' written in 1775, we should not have had the Declaration of Independence in 1776."
Samuel Bryan: "This book, 'Common Sense,' may be called the Book of Genesis, for it was the beginning. From this book spread the Declaration of Independence, that not only laid the foundation of liberty in our own country, but the good of mankind throughout the world."
"The open movement to Independence dates from its publication."—Encyclopedia Britannica (11th Ed.)
Elkanah Watson (one of Paine's calumniators): "It everywhere flashed conviction, and aroused a determined spirit which resulted in the Declaration of Independence."
Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL. D.: "This spark was sufficient to rouse the Americans, who at once signed the Declaration of Independence."
William Howitt: "It at once seized on the imagination of the public, cast all other writers into the shades and flew in thousands and tens of thousands all over the Colonies.... The common fire blazed up in Congress, and the thing was done."
"He became the great oracle on the subject of governments and constitutions."
Thomas Gaspey: "He was treated with great consideration by the members of the Revolutionary government, who took no steps of importance without consulting him."
Grand Dictionary Universel: "He became the political catechism of the movement."
Dictionary of National Biography (America): "Joined the Provincial army in the autumn 1776 and became a volunteer aid-de-camp to General Nathaniel Greene, animating the troops by his writings [the 'Crisis']."
"The pamphlets that stirred like a trumpet call the flagging energies of a desponding people."—Rev. John Snyder.
"General Greene made him one of his aides-de-camp; but an appointment on that staff, during those weeks, carried with it very little, either of privilege or luxury. In the flight from Fort Lee Paine lost his baggage and his private papers; but he had kept or borrowed a pen. He began to write at Newark, the first stage in the calamitous retreat; and he worked all night at every halting place until his new pamphlet was completed. It was published in Philadelphia on the 19th of December, under the title of 'The Crisis,' and at once flew like wildfire through all the towns and villages of the Confederacy."—Sir George Trevelyan.
This, the first number of the "Crisis," opens with these words: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph."
Samuel Eliot: "His later pamphlets, issued during the war under the name of the 'Crisis,' were of equal power [to 'Common Sense']."
Encyclopedia of Social Reform: "The 'Crisis' exerted wide influence for Independence and Republicanism."
Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D.: "The 'Crisis' [sixteen numbers], written by Paine between 1776 and 1783, exercised an enormous influence over men and events during the Revolution."
Albert Payson Terhune: "He plunged, heart and soul, into the struggle for freedom. His 'Common Sense' and other pamphlets [the 'Crisis'] were such strong and eloquent pleas for liberty that Washington ordered some of them read aloud to the patriot armies."
National Cyclopedia of American Biography: "Its [the 'Crisis'] initial number was, by the order of General Washington, read aloud to each regiment and to each detachment."
William S. Stryker: "The effect of its strong patriotic sentences was apparent upon the spirits of the army."
George T. Cram: "The whole patriot army was inspirited by it."
Werner's Encyclopedia (Ed. 1899): "Its opening words, 'These are the times that try men's souls,' became a battle cry."
Norman Hapgood, LL.B.: "The last sentence [of the first 'Crisis'] sounds like a prophecy and the first sentence, 'These are the times that try men's souls,' was the watchword [at the battle of Trenton]."
George Lippard: "In the full prime of early manhood, he joins the army of the Revolution; he shares the crust and the cold with Washington and his men; he is with those brave soldiers on the toilsome march, with them by the camp fire, with them in the hour of battle.
"Is the day dark? Has the battle been bloody? Do the American soldiers despair? Hark! that printing press yonder, which moves with the American camp in all its wanderings, is scattering pamphlets through the ranks of the army—pamphlets written by the author-soldier; written sometimes on the head of a drum, or by the midnight fire, or amid the corpses of the dead."
"Such words as these stirred up the starved Continentals to the attack on Trenton, and there in the dawn of that glorious morning, George Washington, standing sword in hand over the dead body of the Hessian Rhol, confessed the magic influence of the author-hero's pen."
"Under that cloud, by Washington's side, was silently at work the force that lifted it. Marching by day, listening to the consultations of Washington and his generals, Paine wrote by the camp fires; the winter storms, the Delaware waves, were mingled with his ink; the half-naked soldiers in their troubled sleep dreaming of their distant homes, the skulking deserter creeping off in the dusk, the pallid face of the heavy-hearted commander, made the awful shadows beneath which was written that leaflet."—Dr. Conway.
Of this work Sir George Trevelyan writes: "The 'Crisis' was an impassioned appeal to arms. That circumstance endowed Paine's glowing rhetoric with a special value in the estimation of Americans. To their mind's eye the little work was adorned by an imaginary frontispiece of a soldier, writing by the watch-fire's light, with his comrades slumbering round him; and it was among those comrades that the author found his warmest admirers and his most convinced disciples."
"These words were fire and warmed the soldiers; they were meat and drink for the famishing; they were clothes for the naked. The soldiers were filled with a courage new and unknown. The battle of Trenton came, and as the soldiers entered that conflict, all down the ranks rang the battle cry, 'These are the times that try men's souls.' The battle was fought and won. The army of the patriots had entered upon a new career. And thus he wrote and wrought to the end of the immortal struggle."—Dr. John E. Roberts.
"In the midnight of Valley Forge the 'Crisis' was the only star that glittered in the broad horizon of despair."—Col. Ingersoll.
"Paine was the real founder of our Republic. Without his 'Common Sense' the independence of the American Colonies never would have been declared; without his 'Crisis' it never could have been won. Without his services this country, like Canada, India, Australia and South Africa, today would be a part of the British Empire.
"We would undoubtedly be under British rule today but for the wise and wonderful efforts of Thomas Paine.''—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
"Paine's title as the discoverer and inventor of the United States is just as plain as Watt's invention of the steam engine, and everything that has taken place as a result of organizing the United States of America is the result of Thomas Paine's labors."—Rev. Thomas R. Slicer, D.D.
Timothy Matlack (Oct. 10, 1777): "The Honorable House of Assembly has proposed and Council has adopted a plan of obtaining more regular and constant intelligence of the proceedings of General Washington's army than has hitherto been had. Every one agrees that you [Paine] are the proper person for the purpose, and I am directed by his Excellency, the President, to write to you.... Proper expresses will be engaged in this business. If the expresses which pass from headquarters to Congress can be made use of so much the better,—of this you must be the judge."
Col. Asa Bird Gardener, LL.D.: "The entire British fleet was then brought up opposite Fort Mifflin, and the most furious cannonade and most desperate but finally unsuccessful defense of the place was made. The entire works were demolished, and the most of the garrison killed and wounded. Major General Greene being anxious for the garrison and desirous of knowing its ability to resist sent Mr. Paine to ascertain. He accordingly went to Fort Mercer, and from thence, on Nov. 9, (1777), went with Col. Christopher Greene commanding Fort Mercer, in an open boat to Fort Mifflin, during the cannonade, and was there when the enemy opened with two gun batteries and a mortar battery. This very gallant act shows what a fearless man Mr. Paine was."
Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary: "He was secretary to the Committee on Foreign Affairs in Congress from April, 1777, to January, 1779."
It has been asserted by Mr. Roosevelt and others that Paine, because of his action in the Deane affair, was discharged from his position as secretary to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was not discharged, nor was he even asked to resign. He resigned of his own volition.
Franklin Steiner: "In 1778 a fraud was about to be committed upon the infant republic.... Paine wrote several articles for the press, exposing the entire corrupt transaction, and of course made enemies of all involved in the dishonest affair, who at once made attempts to have him discharged from his position, in which they failed."
"A motion for his dismission was lost."—Dr. Conway.
"Congress refused to vote that it was 'an abuse of office,' or to discharge him."—Ibid.
It was Paine's honesty and patriotism, a desire to protect the interests of his adopted country, that caused him to make his exposure. His "indiscretion," as some diplomats characterized it, saved the Colonies a million livres. Pennsylvania applauded the act and rebuked his censors by appointing him clerk of the Assembly. His whole subsequent career—his continued labors in behalf of the Colonies—the confidence reposed in him by all the people—show that his ability, his integrity, and his patriotism were never questioned.
In less than three years after the Deane affair the members of Congress who had honestly espoused Deane's cause acknowledged the justice and wisdom of Paine's exposure.
John Jay Knox: "In 1780 occurred the darkest days of the Revolutionary War. The army was in great distress.... Thomas Paine, the Clerk in the Pennsylvania Assembly, in a letter to Blair McClenaghan, suggested a subscription for relief of the army and enclosed a contribution of $500.
American Cyclopedia: "A letter [dated May 28, 1780] was received by the Assembly of Pennsylvania from Gen. Washington, saying that, notwithstanding his confidence in the attachment of the army to the cause of the country, he feared their distresses would soon cause mutiny in the ranks. This letter was read by Paine as clerk. A despairing silence pervaded the hall, and the Assembly soon adjourned. Paine wrote to Blair McClenaghan, a merchant of Philadelphia, explaining the urgency of affairs, and enclosed in the letter $500, the amount of salary due him as clerk, as his contribution toward a relief fund. McClenaghan called a meeting next day and read Paine's letter; a subscription list was immediately circulated, and in a short time £300,000 [nearly $1,500,000] Pennsylvania currency was collected. With this as a capital, the Pennsylvania Bank, afterwards expanded into the Bank of North America, was established for the relief of the army."
Cassell's Dictionary of Religion: "In 1781 Paine was sent to France with Col. Laurens to negotiate a loan in which he was more than successful, for the French granted a subsidy of six million livres, and became a guarantor of ten millions advanced by Holland."
Lamartine says the King "loaded Paine with favors." His gift of six millions was "confided to Franklin and Paine."
Robert Morris (Feb. 10, 1782): "They [Morris, Minister of Finance, Livingston, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Washington, Commander-in-Chief] are agreed that it will be much for the interest of the United States that Mr. Paine be retained in their [the United States'] service."
Charles Wilson Peale: "Personal acquaintance with him gives me an opportunity of knowing that he had done more for our cause than the world who had only seen his publications could know."
"America is indebted to few characters more than to you."—Gen. Nathaniel Greene.
Calvin Blanchard: "He stood the acknowledged leader of American statesmanship, and the soul of the Revolution, by the proclamation of the legislatures of all the states and that of the Congress of the United States."
Pennsylvania Council (Dec. 6, 1784): "So important were his services during the late contest that those persons whose own merits in the course of it have been the most distinguished concur with a highly honorable unanimity in entertaining sentiments of esteem for him."
"The attention of Pennsylvania is drawn toward Mr. Paine by motives equally grateful to the human heart and reputable to the Republic."
Pennsylvania Assembly: "Thomas Paine did, during the progress of the Revolution, voluntarily devote himself to the service of the public, without accepting recompense therefor, and, moreover, did decline taking or receiving the profits which authors are entitled to on the sale of their literary works, but relinquished them for the better accommodation of the country and the honor of the public cause."
Rev. Dr. M. J. Savage: "He wrote the book which caused the Declaration of Independence, a book in such great demand that the presses groaned for months in endeavoring to supply the demand; a book, the income from the circulation of which, to-day would make a man rich, and yet he steadfastly refused to receive a cent for it."
More than fifty years ago, the Rev. Moncure D. Conway, then pastor of a church in Cincinnati, in a eulogy on Paine, said: "So disinterested was he, that, when his works were printed by the ten thousand, and as fast as one edition was out another was demanded, he, a poor and pinched author, who might very easily have grown rich, would not accept one cent for them, declared that he would not coin his principles, and made to the States a present of the copyrights. His brain was his fortune,—nay his living; he gave it all to American Independence." Paine also gave the copyrights of the several numbers of his "Crisis" to the States. The close of the Revolution found him, to quote from Dr. Conway's biography of Paine, "a penniless patriot who might easily have had fifty thousand pounds in his pocket."
(I shall quote freely from Dr. Conway. For all time this biographer will be the standard authority on Thomas Paine. He was a life-long student of Paine. In each of the three countries which Paine served, America, France and England, he had full access to the national archives of Paine's time. He was a distinguished pulpit orator in both hemispheres, and had a world-wide reputation as a literary man. Above all his love of truth and justice and His rugged honesty and candor make him a witness whose testimony is unimpeachable. To him Andrew Carnegie pays this tribute: "He has passed, but he has left behind him a precious legacy to all who were so fortunate as to be able to call him friend. They are better men and women because Moncure Conway lived and entered into their lives.")
United States Congress (Aug. 26, 1785): "Resolved, That the early, unsolicited, and continued labors of Mr. Thomas Paine, in explaining and enforcing the principles of the late Revolution by ingenious and timely publications upon the nature of liberty and civil government have been well received by the citizens of these States, and merit the approbation of Congress."
This resolution was passed by a unanimous vote.
Allibone's Dictionary of Authors: "He was rewarded by a donation from Congress of $3,000."
"In 1782, at the suggestion of Washington, Congress granted $800 to Paine.... In 1784 the State of New York presented him with 277 acres of land at New Rochelle, and Pennsylvania with £500; and in 1785 Congress gave him $3,000."—International Encyclopedia.
"Some writers have denied his political services, and have declared it impossible that a stranger at the outbreak of the Colonial struggle, he could have influenced public opinion in America; but such should remember that the contemporaries of Paine—and worthy men many of them certainly were who associated with Paine—judged differently, and not only freely circulated his writings but gave expression to their worth,... besides conferring on him the degree of M. A. (Pennsylvania University), and membership in their choicest literary association, the American Philosophical Society."—McClintock and Strong's Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Cyclopedia.
"Let it not be supposed that Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Randolph, and the rest were carried away by a meteor. Deep answers only unto deep."—Dr. Conway.
Drake's Dictionary of American Biography: "His powerful exertions to promote the independence of America constitutes a high claim upon the gratitude of his adopted country."
Ignatius Donnelly: "Paine did a great work during the Revolutionary war in behalf of liberty and deserves to be forever remembered."
McClintock and Strong's Biblical Theological and Ecclesiastical Encyclopedia, to quote again from this standard Christian authority, says: "The truth cannot be withheld that Thomas Paine was one of the most powerful actors in the Revolutionary drama.... His services to his adopted country should not be forgotten."
"As the Tyrtaeus of the Revolution, and it is no exaggeration to style him such, we owe everlasting gratitude to his name and memory."—Rev. Solomon Southwick.
John Spencer Bassett: "History cannot forget that he was an important promoter of the Revolution."
"Paine's brawny arm applied the torch which set the country in a flame, to be extinguished only by the relinquishment of British supremacy; and for this, irrespective of his motives and character, he merits the gratitude of every American."—Gen. William A. Stokes.
"No man rendered grander, service to this country, and no man ought to be more cherished or remembered than Thomas Paine."—Rev. Minot J. Savage, D. D.
Paul Allen: "Those who regard the independence of the United States as a blessing will never cease to cherish the remembrance of Thomas Paine."
"To the welfare of Thomas Paine the Americans are not nor can they be indifferent."—James Monroe.
Hon. Elizur Wright: "It was Thomas Paine, more than any other man, or any other thing, who turned the current of history in the New World."
Rev. John Snyder: "Paine did more than any other single man to create this nation. I simply speak what will some day be the sober judgment of history."
"There was no man in the Colonies who contributed so much to bring the open Declaration of Independence to a crisis as Thomas Paine."—William Howitt.
"He did more for the American cause and for American independence than any other man."—Sir Hiram Maxim.
"Like a magnificent dream the figure of this republic arose in his brain.... The result was victory; and Thomas Paine, the dreamer, the writing soldier, had done more than any other man to make this country free, and to give it a place among the nations of the world."—Marshall J. Gaumn.
"He was the real founder of the American republic."—Henry Frank.
"He wrote the word 'Independence,' and created the greatest nation in the world."
Hon. John W. Hoyt, LL.D.: "Thomas Paine inspired the Revolution by his spirit, maintained it when in the darkest hours of the battle it seemed that the spark of liberty would go out."
Dr. J. R. Monroe: "With the wand of his genius he turned aside the scroll that concealed the future of our country, and by the inspiring picture he thus presented our disheartened and hard-pressed forefathers were nerved to press forward, to brave every peril, to dare every danger, to defy every death, till tyranny was throttled and man was free."
Rev. Martin K. Schermerhorn: "When our children's children shall celebrate America's second centennial a hundred years from now, they will write in largest letters upon their national banner this sentence which all intelligent American citizens will then enthusiastically recognize and applaud: 'Thomas Paine—the Patriot... of two hundred years ago.'"
Stephen Simpson: "To the genius of Thomas Paine as a popular writer, and to that of George Washington as a prudent, skillful, and consummate general, are the American people indebted for their rights, liberty and independence."
Mrs. Hypatia Bradlaugh-Bonner: "With Washington he played the foremost part in the American Revolution. If Washington was the sword and the strong arm, Paine was the heart and brains of that great struggle. He was the mouth-piece of the aspirations of a continent. He dared to utter the thoughts that lay concealed in the secret hearts of the people. He sounded the demand for the Independence of the Continent. He bound together the separate colonies, and proclaimed 'The Free and Independent States of America.'"
Thomas Paine was the creator of this great Republic. He was the real father of our country; Washington was its foster father. Paine's pen transformed a petty rebellion into a mighty revolution and made a rebel chief the triumphant defender of a new-born nation. Washington's fame is secure. His right to a place in the pantheon of earth's immortals will never be denied. And when the clouds of prejudice are dispelled, as they will be, Paine's name will shine with a splendor unsurpassed, never to be obscured again.