Rights of Man and Common Sense: Introduction by Michael Foot

“[Thomas Paine] accepted [no] definitions or frontiers, claiming to be the first of a new breed necessary to save mankind and womankind: a citizen of the world.... Well beyond his own lifetime it was the power of his pen that restored his vision of the world as it might be.... America made Thomas Paine—and he helped to make America.” —from the Introduction by Michael Foot

The authorities in power in England during Thomas Paine’s lifetime saw him as an agent provocateur who used his seditious...