
Pennsylvania
Thomas Paine
The Pamphleteer
Thomas Paine
1737–1809 • Pennsylvania
Author of Common Sense
Most Important Quote
“These are the times that try men's souls.”
Biography
Author of Common Sense, the pamphlet that made independence inevitable, and The American Crisis, read aloud to troops at Valley Forge.
Stances
Radical democrat. Republic, not monarchy. Later turned against organized religion and Federalist America.