Thomas Paine and American Liberty

This is a Reading List based upon a Liberty Fund Conference on “Thomas Paine and American Liberty.”

Guide to the Readings

Editions used:

• Thomas Paine, The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). 4 Vols.

See also in the Online Library of Liberty:

• Collections: The American Revolution and Constitution
• Collections: The French Revolution
• Collections: The Debate about the French Revolution

For additional reading see:

• Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
• Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

Session I: The Common Sense Revolutionary

The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). Vol. 1.

• Common Sense (1776)

Session II: Rationalism in Politics

The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). Vol. 2.

• Rights of Man (1791) (first half of text)

Session III: The Theory and Practice of Liberty

The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). Vol. 2.

• Rights of Man (1791) (second half of text)

Session IV: A First Philosophy of Liberal Government

The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). Vol. 2.

• The Rights of Man. Part Second. (Chaps. 1-4)

Session V: Rationalism in Religion

The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). Vol. 4.

• The Age of Reason (Part 1) - (first half)

Session VI: Paine's Liberalism - Classical or Modern?

The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). Vol. 3.

• Agrarian Justice (1797)

The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). Vol. 4.

• The Age of Reason (Part 1) - (second half)