Constructing knowledge through institutions, people and culture is the generally accepted method of social research. The study of prominent personalities and their works helps contextualize the historical period itself. Methodologically, this genre of literature draws deeply on a hermeneutic approach and archival materials. Diachronic historicism, as it is known, helps communicate between the past and present by reading time, space and literature together. Following this methodology in The Political Philosophy of Thomas Paine, Jack Fruchtman takes up the responsibility of constructing the relevance of the eighteenth century in the history of the United States through an examination of Thomas Paine and his major works.
As Fruchtman shows in the introduction, Thomas Paine was, more than anything else, a thinker of immense creativity whose visionary ideology was marred with contradictions. Simultaneously, he was an arm of the liberal camp and a spokesperson of religious fantasy with conservative economic policies. Born in 1737 as an Englishman in Thetford, in the English county of Norfolk, Paine rose to prominence with his multifaceted activities as author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor and intellectual. His capacious intellect spans political science, secularism, religion, state, empire and colonialism with much food for thought.
The book demonstrates that Thomas Paine (1753-1825) was one of the rare intellectual-activists constantly engaged with what later seemed to be contradictory viewpoints and wobbly stands. Scholars tend to differ in their view of Paine and his ideology but accept that his ideas and foresight forged America as a nation of great potential.
Overall, the book is an example of balanced criticism and praise. Structurally, it is divided into six chapters that propose challenging arguments, not unlike the many recent biographies of the lives of leading figures of the United State’s formative era. A wider readership and interest in this type of study have produced studies on the lives of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and have brought this scholarship into the public arena. (1) This peculiar phenomenon of love for the founding-fathers, known as “Founders Chic” receives much attention from contemporary American society, providing the immediate social framework for the book.
Paine’s conflicting political ideologies were the product of his reactions and responses to his immediate surroundings. The life of Paine bore the signs of an insecure, broken, solitary, and rootless background. These circ*mstances forced him to become a wanderer, (16) influencing his life and ideologies to a great extend, compelling him to always seek alternatives. Paine’s engagement with the political atmosphere started in 1768 in the Sussex town of Lewes, where his flair for debate won the hearts of many commentators. (18) These pursuits garnered for him fame among debating clubs in the United States where he received fair criticism that shaped young Paine’s political choices. His style is reminiscent of Marxist methodology, and by calling attention to this aspect of his ideas, the book may be considered a contribution to the debates on political activism. Thus Paine became synonymous with nation building.
The moral foundation of Paine’s ideology was his belief in the existence of God as the powerful source of creation. The debates on Paine’s idea of God constitute the focal point of the second chapter. Paine is examined as a devoted theist, a premise aimed at examining his journey from Quakerism to Deism. Paine’s Quakerism was fueled through his anger against the rule of hierarchies in the established religions. This disagreement with the hegemony of established religious institutions brought Paine close to radical-atheist positions, which (30) can be seen in his argument that the Pope was the anti-Christ, and that Jesus Christ was an ordinary human being without any superhuman traits.(32) The development of eighteenth-century scientific rationality is examined in the light of Paine’s idea that human beings constitute the only creature of God because they have been equipped to produce like God himself. The influence of mounting scientific reason undergirded his argument that knowledge of the unnatural could be attained through science and reason. (37)
Chapter three examines Paine’s thought through his major work, Common Sense. Paine is presented as an individual who succeeded in moving beyond the dichotomies of blind faith and fanaticism, and as a secular individual, he was devoted to the creation of a secular state in United States. (56) While the chaotic era of American civil war is examined as a product of distinct angularities, the book argues that Common Sense was the first printed book that truly addressed American freedom. (62) Paine sought a peaceful civilization devoid of monarchs. (64) Common Sense was the most radical book of the eighteenth century for it spoke against monarchy, hereditary succession, aristocratic rank and privilege. (66)
One of the most distinguishing aspects of Thomas Paine’s treatise on the state was his emphasis on the secular state devoid of any monarchical despots. Chapter four examines Paine’s ideas on state, secularism and revolution. For him secularism was not the negation of religion but the absorption of religious sentiment in a different context. This context, according to him, was the freedom of the individual to choose his religious faith, thereby limiting state intervention in individual freedom. Fruchtman argues that Paine’s skepticism to state originated from his experience with the authoritarian monarchs and bureaucrats. This very skepticism enabled Paine to assert that once America became a free nation, it could create a constitution that would preserve “above all things the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.” (93) As a revolutionary thinker belonging to the eighteenth century, his thoughts were shaped by other enlightenment thinkers. Moreover, Paine could easily recognize the impact of French and American revolutions, but at the same time he also urged that “a constitution is the property of a nation and not of those who exercise the government”. (97) He was influenced by Rousseau’s teachings about the role of individuals in deciding the politics of a country and drew heavily on the notion of popular sovereignty. This idea of the common man distinguished Paine from his contemporaries. He also argued that common man has the ability to take political decisions, and thereby ensured the way for socially and publicly debated policies in the state. (99)
In Paine’s imagination, a strong commercial republic supported by a standing army constituted of citizen militia offered a model for the future of America. Based on this idea of nation as premise, chapter five deals with the theoretical environments of Paine’s conception of the nation in the making. Moreover, a comparative examination of Paine’s theory with Hamilton is conducted, with areas of convergence and divergence being strictly followed. (102-03) Furthermore, the chapter demonstrates that both Hamilton and Paine were ardent opponents of slavery and Paine’s opposition was constituted by his belief in human rights and love for humanity. While this chapter extensively uses the comparative method, the politics and ideas of both Paine and Hamilton are examined critically with emphasis on Rousseau’s influence on Paine. (120-21)
Proceeding further from these ideological examinations, chapter six presents a small hypothetical study on the political environment during Paine’s final years. Interestingly, chapter six opens the debate by indicating that Paine, the one time spokesperson of revolution, disavowed all revolutionary politics under the shadow of the guillotine in France when he was arrested and put in prison in 1793. After spending ten months in prison, the chapter shows that a matured Paine came out, someone who was never ready to listen to or make ultra-radical claims. (135-36) As promised by the author in the introduction, the book presents Thomas Paine’s life and ideas in a rational framework with a logically coherent methodology. As Fruchtman concludes, in the final years of his life, Paine became paranoid about those who he thought were undermining the American republic. (146) The political events in the final years of Paine’s life, as the chapter shows, disturbed him very much, and he struggled to balance his criticism of people who made different political choices. As these issues and writings suggest, he was an active and engaged man committed to the cause of America, who spent his final years enmeshed in political debate and conflict.
The Political Philosophy of Thomas Paine, is a lucid, theoretically sound attempt to contextualize Thomas Paine and his works. As we have observed, the methodology of diachronic historicism is beautifully applied in this book, which critically examines the works of Paine. The book will also contribute to the understanding of the American Civil War and the development of a secular polity in the Western world. It will appeal to scholars, researchers, students and the general public interested in the history of eighteenth century America.
