Table Of ContentThe Legacy of Thomas Paine
in the Transatlantic World
As early as 1892, Moncure Conway, the author of the first scholarly Paine
biography, noted that whilst Paine’s life up to 1809 was certainly fascinat-
ing, his subsequent life – that is, his afterlife – was even more thrilling.
Vilified by Theodore Roosevelt as a “filthy little atheist,” yet employed by
Ronald Reagan in his campaign to make America “great again,” Paine’s
words and ideas have been both celebrated and dismissed by generations of
politicians and presidents. An Englishman by birth, an American by adop-
tion, and a Frenchman by decree, Paine has been invoked and appropri-
ated by groups and individuals across the transatlantic political spectrum.
This was particularly apparent following the bicentennial of Paine’s death
in 2009, an event that prompted new scholarship examining troublesome
Tom’s ideas and ideals, whilst in Thetford, Lewes and New Rochelle – his
three transatlantic “homes” – he was feted and commemorated. Yet despite
all this interest, the precise forms and function of Paine’s post-mortem pres-
ence have still not received the attention they deserve. With essays authored
by experts on both sides of the Atlantic (and beyond), this book examines
the transatlantic afterlife of Thomas Paine, offering new insights into the
ways in which he has been used and abused, remembered and represented,
in the two hundred years since his death.
Sam Edwards is Senior Lecturer in American History at Manchester Metro-
politan University.
Marcus Morris is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at Manches-
ter Metropolitan University.
The Legacy of Thomas Paine
in the Transatlantic World
Edited by Sam Edwards
and Marcus Morris
First published 2018
by Routledge
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© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Sam Edwards and Marcus Morris;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Sam Edwards and Marcus Morris to be identified as the
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chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978-1-848-93577-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-24694-1 (ebk)
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For Bill Speck (1938–2017); a scholar and a gentleman.
Contents
List of figures ix
List of contributors xi
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: the use and abuse of
Thomas Paine in the transatlantic world 1
SAM EDWARDS AND MARCUS MORRIS
PART I
The image and idea(s) of Paine: Origins, use, and reuse 15
1 The image of Tom: Paine in print and portraiture 17
W. A. SPECK
2 ‘I am made to say what I never wrote’: deism, spiritualism,
and ventriloquising Paine, c. 1790s–1850s 35
PATRICK W. HUGHES
3 All Paine: the American mind and the creation of the
League of Nations and the U.N. 51
MICHAEL HOLM
4 The distortion of Thomas Paine’s philosophy of government 69
GARY BERTON
PART II
Discovering and using Paine’s radicalism 87
5 ‘Revolutions are the order of the day’: Atlantic fragments
of Thomas Paine, c. 1819–1832 89
MATTEO BATTISTINI
viii Contents
6 Posthumous Paine in the United Kingdom, 1809–1832:
Jacobin or loyalist cult? 107
MATTHEW ROBERTS
7 ‘The neglect of Paine seems particularly strange at the
present political juncture’: explaining British socialists’
relationship to Paine, c. 1884–1914 133
MARCUS MORRIS
8 Citizens of the world: Paine and the political prisoners
transported to Australia 151
TONY MOORE
PART III
Remembering and remaking Paine 171
9 Common Sense on the Lower East Side: Thomas Paine
and the era of immigration, c. 1900–1950 173
LOUIS MAZZARI
10 “A monument in every city?”: Thomas Paine in memoriam 187
THEODORE MAROTTA
11 ‘He came from America didn’t he?’: the Thetford
statue controversy and the problem of Paine in
transatlantic memory, c. 1909–1970 207
SAM EDWARDS
Afterword: the struggle for Paine’s memory and the
making of American democracy 233
HARVEY J. KAYE
Index 245
Figures
1.1 ‘Edward Payne Esquire’, by James Watson, 1783. 20
1.2 F. Oldys, Title page of George Chalmers, The
Life of Thomas Pain. 10th edition, London, 1793 22
6.1 ‘The Age of Reason’, by George Cruikshank (1819) 115
6.2 M. Adams, A Parody on the Political House that
Jack Built (1820), illustrated by Isaac Cruikshank 116
11.1 Lieutenant-Colonel Robert B Satterwhite of the 388th
Bomb Group presents a plaque of behalf of the United
States Eighth Air Force to the Mayor of Thetford, HR
Watling, historian Professor Frank Dobie and Sir
William Gentle to commemorate Thomas Paine
(October 1943). 214
11.2 Boeing B-17F-90-BO Fortress Serial 42–30793
“Tom Paine” of the 388th Bomb Group. The group
staff knew that nearby Thetford was the birthplace of
Thomas Paine and decided to name the newly arrived
aircraft “Tom Paine” in his honour. 216
11.3 Unveiling of Thomas Paine Statue, Thetford,
7 June 1964. 220
11.4 Statue of Thomas Paine and memorial to 359th
Fighter Group, Thetford. 226
