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Our Forgotten Founding Father
Alright, I need to begin with an admission. While sitting in the Thomas Paine panel discussion last Monday, what most struck me was how little I knew—and, actually, still do know—about the man whom Edison considered “the equal of Washington in making American liberty possible.” Why, I began to wonder, is Thomas Paine largely ignored in discussion of our founding fathers?
In his essay “The Philosophy of Paine,” Thomas Edison laments, “Tom Paine has almost no influence on present-day thinking in the United States because he is unknown to the average citizen.” Unfortunately, this sentiment still remains true 84 years later. Edison continues, “Perhaps I might say right here that this is a national loss and a deplorable lack of understanding concerning the man who first proposed and first wrote those impressive words, ‘the United States of America.’”
Paine’s place in standard education extends little beyond the required reading of “Common Sense” and the occasional reference to his immortal words “These are the times that try men’s souls.” As a result, Paine’s reputation stands merely as the author of a few controversial pamphlets (e.g., “Common Sense,” “The American Crisis,” “The Rights of Man,” “The Age of Reason”), which few people have actually read, let alone paid them the attention they deserve. Even less attention is paid to the hope and inspiration he instilled in the hearts of American troops, his role as an inventor, the great influence he had on our nation’s founding documents, and consequently, his proper title as one of our country’s founding fathers.
To some, Paine is remembered and still perceived as an insurgent. To Thomas Edison, he was “our greatest political thinker,” a
Written by administrator on 06/12/2009 in Blog | Event | History | Philosophy | Politics
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