Thomas Paine was born in1737 at Thetford, Norfolk in England, as a son of a Quaker. He immigrated to America in 1774. There he published works criticising the slavery and supporting American independence. He became very popular but returned to England where he became involved in the French Revolution. After that he returned to America where he died in 1802.Isaac Kramnick is Professor of Government at Cornell University and has edited of The Federalist Papers and the Thomas Paine Reader.

• Background to the American Revolution, 1776 from staymaker to revolutionary - the life and career of Tom Paine; the argument of common sense; Bourgeois radicalism - the ideology of Tom Paine; Paine and the American bicentennial. Common sense: introduction; of the origin and design of government in general of monarchy and hereditary succession; thoughts on the present state of American affairs; of the present ability of America, with some miscellaneous reflexions. Appendix: to the representatives of the religious society of the people called Quakers.