Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, which was published in 1776 and bolstered support for American independence.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Paine and his pamphlet "Common Sense" which was published in Philadelphia in January 1776 and promoted the argument for American independence from Britain. Addressed to The Inhabitants of America, it sold one hundred and fifty thousand copies in the first few months and is said, proportionately, to be the best-selling book in American history. Paine had arrived from England barely a year before. He vigorously attacked monarchy generally and George the Third in particular. He argued the colonies should abandon all hope of resolving their dispute with Britain and declare independence immediately. Many Americans were scandalised. More were inspired and, for Paine's vision of America's independent future, he has been called a Founding Father of the United States.
With
Kathleen Burk
Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London
Nicholas Guyatt
University Lecturer in American History at the University of Cambridge
And
Peter Thompson
Associate Professor of American History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Last on
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
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READING LIST:
Seth Cotlar, Tom Paine’s America: The Rise and Fall of Transatlantic Radicalism in the Early Republic (University of Virginia Press, 2011)
Marcus Daniel, Scandal and Civility: Journalism and the Birth of American Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2010)
Nicole Eustace, Passion is the Gale: Emotion, Power, and the Coming of the American Revolution (University of North Carolina Press, 2008)
Eric Foner, Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (first published 1976; Oxford University Press, 2004)
John Keane, Tom Paine: A Political Life (Bloomsbury, 1995)
Scott Liell, 46 Pages: Thomas Paine, Common Sense, and the Turning Point to Independence (Running Press, 2003)
Gary B. Nash, The Unknown American Revolution; The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America (Jonathan Cape, 2006)
Craig Nelson, Thomas Paine: His Life, His Time and the Birth of Modern Nations (Profile Books, 2007)
Eric Nelson, The Royalist Revolution: Monarchy and the American Founding (Harvard University Press, 2014)
Mark Philp, Thomas Paine (Oxford University Press, 2007)
Peter Thompson, Rum Punch and Revolution: Taverngoing and Public Life in Eighteenth Century Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998)
Gordon S. Wood, Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different (Penguin, 2006)
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Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Melvyn Bragg |
| Interviewed Guest | Kathleen Burk |
| Interviewed Guest | Nicholas Guyatt |
| Interviewed Guest | Peter Thompson |
| Producer | Simon Tillotson |
Broadcasts
- Thu 21 Jan 2016 09:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
- Thu 21 Jan 2016 21:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
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