America owes its greatness mostly as a result of the virtues and ideals passed along by its founding fathers. The range of founding fathers varied greatly in an embodiment of the greatest unity in diversity.
Each founding father may have had a personal stand and view on certain issues, but it was that differences in opinion and everything they stood for that enabled them craft an all-inclusive constitution that has stood the test of time to this very day.
In fact, much as they differed in a view of certain issues the founding fathers agreed on the few areas of common good that they desired for the nation and gave it their very best (Wall, 2007).
Going through the history and biographies of these great men and women, one realizes that there are threads of great acts of sacrifice and commitment that went into the entire struggle for the liberation. Thomas Paine is one founding father who has been most controversial in the whole of the history of American struggle.
It is quite a sobering story about a great man who did so much but who created so many enemies in the process. To the extent his magnificent achievements have never been really given the kind of attention as that of the other men of the liberation struggles. As a true champion of liberty, Thomas Paine’s ideals have greatly contributed to the practice of liberty and democracy in America (Dolbeare, & Cummings, 2009).
Thomas Paine said “We have it in our power this begin the world again” (Dolbeare, & Cummings, 2009, p.312). He was a revisionary per excellence. It still amazes that even liberals found it hard to cope with his evolutionary ideas. So, for several years the country and historians have been bent or presenting Thomas Paine only as the patriot.
In the darkest days of war this enchanted soul said soothing that still resonates with Americans to this date and especially during times when the country is facing seasons of uncertainty. “These are the times that try men’s souls” (Harris, 2011, p. 8255). For over 200 years Paine’s contribution to the advancement of revolution in the U.S.A. was never at all talked about, at least not in a favorable light.
His philosophy and contribution was despised and treated with scorn. Yet no other person could be credited to the process of endowing American experience with the democratic impulse and aspirations. This literally turned Americans into radicals and to this date this radicalism remains an important manifestation of American democracy.
So for the country to show an interest in connecting with Paine’s extraordinary memory and legacy is to remember his revolutionary ideals that restored the confidence in the peoples’ ability to govern themselves.
He had a visionary view that America had a particular promise and purpose that reached beyond its borders. To remember this is to identify a reason for all citizens not just to stand for but also to stand against Paine with regard to his democratic ideals (White, 2011).
In his simple radicalism and using means he could, that of the pen, Paine used it so effectively that he is credited with the success of the American revolution, the French revolution, and the British Independence Revolution. Paine was a remarkable writer. A sharp shooter who did not spare anything but hit straight at the ills in the system without consideration to whether he rubbed some of the ruling elite the wrong way.
He has been described by many as the most radical of the ‘radical age’. Yet history has it that this initially humble immigrant was not a radical from birth. Having been born to an English artisan, it was by the age of 37 years when he moved to the U.S.A., that the events of the time worked together to bring out the radical in him.
His was not a planned endeavor. Reading the American determination to resist the British rule, and after observing the magnificent possibilities offered by this nation, he was convinced that he needed to contribute to this course (Hoffman, 2006).
His pamphlets simply titled “common sense’’ and “the crisis” inspired the American people to declare their independence and create a republic. He did not just stop at the independence; he explored the American people to turn the situation into a revolutionary way of life.
He encouraged the Americans to use this energy for expansion of democracy, progress, and to forge an American identity full of experience, purpose, and promise. He was an inquisitive, gregarious, and compassionate citizen. Yet his resolve, will power, and combative nature was stronger.
He had an ever ready attitude to speak out for what was right. He was quoted as having said, “Where there is liberty that is my country” (Dolbeare, & Cummings, 2009, p.105). This sounded so good until you realize that he also said, “Where there is no liberty, there is my country” (Dolbeare, & Cummings, 2009, p.105).
What a resolute will that was. For Paine, his radical and democratic ideals were not just coming from reading rather from a personal experience as a working man before he became the intellectual and author (Andreas & Ira, 2006).
What was most fascinating about Paine is that he directed his letters to the common citizens often neglected by the ruling elite for not having anything to contribute to the governance debate. His experience had led him to realize that these citizens were capable of contributing to the political debate and even to be able to govern.
By this single act, Paine helped transform the idea of politics and political nation. He emboldened a vision of political, economic, and cultural potential not just for the American people, but to the world. By his assertion that, “The sun never shined on a course of a greater worth” he simply envisioned the happenings in America as having an impact for the whole world (Dolbeare, & Cummings, 2009, p. 53).
He envisioned liberation not just for a city but to all inhabitable parts of the world. He was optimistic that the success they were championing for was not just for a day but for posterity.
He had an inveterate championing of liberty, equality, and democracy all over the world. This explains why after the American revolution, he turned his attention to Britain and France. In rights defense; he championed the French revolution of 1789, Britain’s monarchial and autocratic polity, and the social order.
In defense of betterment of public welfare, he initiated many policies to address the material inequality that made life oppressive for the working class and the poor. In terms of his contribution to global unity and liberty; Paine was an embodiment of a truly global citizen.
Born and raised in England, adopted as an American and honored by France, Paine used to quip “I am a citizen of the world” and truly, he lived the ideal (Lamb, 2010, p.483).
In spite of these noble achievements, his affections had not been appreciated and reciprocated. His democratic ideals, combative style, enormous appeal to social justice, upbringing, level of confidence, and single mindedness, antagonized many. This was especially true among the powerful, property owners, the prestigious, and the pious.
He therefore collected a massive powerful group of enemies. Unfortunately, the enemies included even close ranks with whom they were engaged in the struggle including names such as John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Gouvner Morris. Aspiring elites in England, patricians, professionals, middle Atlantic manufacturers, and traders were not happy with Paine.
Furthermore, the southern slave holders and solemn evangelists feared the very power of Paine’s prickly pen, and democratic implications of his arguments. According to much of the recorded history, they seemed to have succeeded.
Roosevelt, in 1880 in a speech described Paine, as the ‘little filthy atheist’ in religious devout. His name conjured the worst of memories especially in the minds of conservatives (Walker, 2008).
For this reason, biographers and historians thought Paine’s memory and legacy had been erased from America official-telling. However, that was not true of his vision and legacy. At the times when America has faced economic, political, and social uncertainties, the republic has always turned to the writings and words of Paine for solace and strength.
Furthermore, there are certain people who have dedicated themselves to ensuring that the contributions of Paine are never forgotten. In contrast to the assumptions of the biographers and historians, Paine’s political and intellectual life lives on. It has contributed significantly to the diverse American nature that defends, extends and deepens: freedom, equality and democracy (Rao, 2012).
References
Andreas, K., & Ira, K. (2006). The Republic of the Moderns: Paine’s and Madison’s Novel Liberalism. Polity, 38(4), 447-477.
Dolbeare, K.M., & Cummings, M. S. (2009). American Political Thought (6th ed.). Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Harris, J. (2011). Servile State or Discredited State? Some Historical Antecedents of Current ‘Big Society’ Debates. Political Quarterly, 8255-67.doi:10.1111/j.1467- 923X.2011.02327
Hoffman, D.C. (2006). Paine and prejudice: rhetorical leadership through perceptual framing in common sense. Rhetoric & public affairs, 9(3), 373-410.
Lamb, R. (2010). Liberty, Equality, and the Boundaries of Ownership: Thomas Paine’s Theory of Property Rights. Review of Politics, 72(3), 483-511.
Rao, G. (2012). Tom Paine’s America: The Rise and Fall of Transatlantic Radicalism in the Early Republic – By Seth Cotlar. Historian, 74(2), 347-348.
Walker, T. C. (2008). Two Faces of Liberalism: Kant, Paine, and the Question of Intervention. International Studies Quarterly, 52(3), 449-468.
Wall, H. M. (2007). Founding Fathers and Revolutionary Heirs. Itinerario, 31(3), 98-103.
White, K. (2011). The Declaration of Independence and Immigration in the United States of America. Norteamérica: RevistaAcadémica Del CISAN-UNAM, 211- 228.