The Green Ribbon Books

Paine: Political Writings

Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
Thomas Paine, edited by Bruce Kuklick
Cambridge University Press
1989, 2Rev Ed 2000

Tom Paine was arguably the most important thinker in the English radical tradition and a significant figure in both the French and American revolutions. He transformed the art of political writing with a lucid plain style designed to appeal to the common people rather than the classically educated elite.

This useful anthology includes a number of his most important writings:

Common Sense (1776) - tract containing the first open call for the Thirteen Colonies of America to throw off their allegiance to Britain. At one time there was one copy in circulation for every five people on America.

The Crisis Number I (1776) - Famous pamphlet written while Paine accompanied George Washington's army in its retreat across New Jersey. Washington had it read to his men before crossing the Delaware. Its power is exemplified by the famous opening lines:

A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irishmen

A.T.Q. Stewart
Faber & Faber
1993

This book traces the influence of English and Scottish radicalism on the United Irishmen.

Stewart describes two important parallel developments in Eighteenth Century Ireland which ultimately came together in the United Irish movement.

The first was the emergence of an Irish national consciousness amongst Protestants who had formed the political class ever since the Williamite settlement of the late Seventeenth Century. Imbued with the Whig principles of the English revolutions of the 1640s and 1680s, they increasingly chafed at the Irish Parliament's subordination to England.

The second was the gradual re-emergence of a Catholic middle class able to challenge the penal laws.

These twin developments are clearly summarised in chapter three, The Story of the Injured Lady.