Thomas Paine

Thomas “Tom” Paine was born on January 29th, 1736 in Norfolk, England. His father was Joseph Paine, a Quaker, who was incredibly unhappily wed to Frances, an Anglican attorney’s daughter. His education as a boy was very basic and meagre. He only learned enough writing and math to get him by, and his grammar was almost never perfect. When he was thirteen, he became an apprentice to his father’s work: stay-making, which was the practice of making hefty rope rigging on sailing vessels that secure the masts to the hull of the ship. This was Thetford’s main industry, which, unfortunately, was rather low-paying. Many biographies and rumours about him claim that he and his father were, in fact, both corset-makers. However, this was not true, and was mainly used as a weapon by those who did not approve of him as a way to denigrate him.

In the dusk of his adolescence at around age nineteen, he was enlisted to be a privateer, or someone who was authorized by the government to attack foreign ships during times of war. He persevered in this occupation for only a few years, and during his twenties, despite being scarcely educated when he was a younger man, he was fascinated by new ideas and authors, whose ideas were considered unusual. He used the money he earned from his expedition as a privateer to acquire books and scientific tools. This was the push that induced what he would be doing the remainder of his life.

After this period, he returned to Britain and became a master stay-maker, like his father, and on September 27th ,1759, he was briefly married to Mary Lambert, their life together tragically cut short when both Mary and her child died when she went into early labor. Soon after his marriage with Mary, his business collapsed. Throu...

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...friends had also abandoned him for fear of prejudice against them, and people no longer saw him as a hero because of some of his works. He died alone on June 8th, 1809.

Thomas Paine was one of the most influential people on the matter of the American Revolution. Despite being born into poverty and having a very low education, his ideas were not limited. He strayed from the common religious beliefs of the world and went his own way, despite persecution, which showed that his personality was that of a leader and free-thinker.

Works Cited

"Thomas Paine." Ushistory.org. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. .

"Thomas Paine." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. .

"Thomas Paine Biography." Biography Base Home. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. .