Charged with seditious libel for ad

Charged with seditious libel for advocating an end to monarchy in Britain, Paine fled to France, where he became one of a handful of foreigners elected to the National Convention. His opposition to the execution of the king alienated the Jacobins, and when they came to power, Paine found himself in prison. After his release in 1794, he produced his last great pamphlets: The Age of Reason, an exposition of deism and an attack on the basic principles of Christianity, and Agrarian Justice, a call for land reform.

After his return to America in 1802, Paine came under constant assault by evangelical Christians for his deist writings. Only six mourners attended the funeral of the man who had once inspired millions to think in new ways about the world. But Paine’s writings became part of the intellectual foundation for nineteenth-century radicalism.

The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Copyright © 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.