Internationally recognised art and literary critic, writer and cultural producer. Published in ELLE, Glamour, Esquire and Cosmopolitan; member of the Union of Writers.
Thomas Paine is a household name in America, where he is celebrated as one of the founding fathers and the author of Common Sense, the pamphlet that galvanized the colonists to rebel against Britain in 1776. But he is also a revered figure in France, where he played a pivotal role in the French Revolution and the birth of the First Republic.
Paine arrived in France in 1791, at the invitation of the Marquis de Lafayette, who had fought alongside him in the American War of Independence. He was welcomed as a hero by the revolutionaries, who admired his writings and his experience in creating a new nation. He soon became a member of the National Convention, the legislative assembly that governed France during the most turbulent phase of the revolution.
Paine was a staunch supporter of the revolution, but he also advocated for moderation and humanity. He opposed the execution of King Louis XVI, arguing that it would only provoke more violence and resentment. He also proposed a new constitution that would establish a democratic republic with a unicameral legislature, a directly elected president, and universal male suffrage. He envisioned a France that would be a model of liberty, equality, and fraternity for the world.
Paine’s ideas were not well received by the radical faction of the Jacobins, who favored a more centralized and authoritarian regime. He was denounced as a traitor and a royalist, and arrested in 1793. He narrowly escaped the guillotine, thanks to the intervention of James Monroe, the American minister to France. He spent ten months in prison, during which he wrote the first part of The Age of Reason, his controversial treatise on religion and reason.
Paine was released in 1794, after the fall of Robespierre and the end of the Reign of Terror. He remained in France until 1802, when he returned to America at the request of President Thomas Jefferson. He continued to write and publish his works, but he also faced hostility and criticism from his former friends and allies, who disagreed with his views on religion, politics, and society. He died in 1809, in poverty and obscurity, with only a handful of mourners at his funeral.
Today, Paine is recognized as one of the most influential thinkers and writers of the Enlightenment era. His legacy is evident in the principles and values of the modern France, which is a secular, democratic, and social republic. His portrait hangs in the National Assembly, the successor of the National Convention, and his name is inscribed on the Eiffel Tower, among the 72 Frenchmen who contributed to the glory of France. His writings are still widely read and studied, and his ideas are still relevant and inspiring for the current and future generations. He is, in the words of historian John Keane, “a world citizen who had a global impact”.
