We as a people and a country could NEVER thank this patriot enough for his contributions! He is truly the “Father of the American Revolution”.

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Thomas Paine (June 8, 1809). The English pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, inventor, and intellectual. He lived and worked in Britain until age 37, when he emigrated to the British American colonies, in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contribution was the powerful, widely-read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), advocating colonial America’s independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and of The American Crisis (1776–1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series.

The strength of Common Sense was not in the originality of its ideas, but rather in the simplicity of its style.^[ Paine was a pioneer in a new style of political writing suitable to the kind of democratic society he envisioned. Common Sense rendered complex ideas intelligible to average readers, with clear, concise writing unlike the formal, learned style favored by many of Paine’s contemporaries.

He was, in my opinion, the first blogger. He is also a largely forgotten Founding Father. History has not been kind to this extraordinary man. Without Paine’s input with his pamphlet “Common Sense” the revolution that the rich elite had started would have failed. Paine made it understandable to the masses, thus they became the power behind the revolution. He took the abstract theories and made them simple and easy for the normal colonial to understand. Without his capability of the written word all would have been lost in the revolt against England. All those wealthy land owners would have been hanged and the rule of the day would have stayed around for many more years.

When I was a young boy of about 12 years old, my grandfather gave me a copy of Common Sense, and to say that it changed my life would be an understatement. At first, it was just words, but as time moved on I started seeing what Thomas Paine was saying and from about 14 or 15 I became the radical independent I am today. His style of writing inspired me in my later years to try and write in a style where normal, average Americans can understand complicated political theories. I have refused to cloud things up with words no normal individual would use, that is Paine’s influence.

The United States cannot do enough to thank this patriot for his contribution to the establishment of this country. But for some reason he has been left out of the history books, with the exception of his “Common Sense”. I have even gone so far as to suggest that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence from notes given to him by Paine. I do not think that Jefferson was capable of writing such a document on his own.

On this day, the day of his death, all I can really say is THANK YOU, THOMAS PAINE! We owe you so much and gave you so little….I am sorry.