Happy Birthday Mister … Paine

The 29th January, that’s Monday, let's to the White Hart (The Lewes Arms would be my preference, but it's still subject to boycott) to celebrate the 270th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Paine - Lewes resident from 1768 to 1774. Twice married (once to a Lewesian), bankrupted, imprisoned and disenfranchised before his death in 1809. A stay maker, excise officer, grocer and tobacconist, it was in non-Conformist Lewes, that Paine turned his hand to journalism. As Forrester he is reputed to have written over 40 essays for the Sussex Weekly Advertiser. Forrester reappeared in Pennsylvania. Armed with a letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin, Paine now edited the Pennsylvania Magazine. Forrester wrote letters in support of the anti-royalist stance. The Forrester Letters are said to show insight to Paine’s zeal and reasoning.

From his days at the White Hart Club, and as a frequent holder of the infamous 'Headstrong Book', the prize for the most obstinate haranguer, Paine enjoyed arguing in person and in print. I want to know why you didn’t think women should have the vote, Mr. Paine?
Paine published “The Rights of Man” Part 1, 1791 and Part ll, 1792 in response to deep variance with the ideas of Edmund Burke’s publication in 1790 called “Reflection on the Revolution in France”. Burke condemned the Revolution, and supported monarchy in the UK. Paine declared the four inalienable rights of humanity to be Liberty, Property, Security and Resistance to Oppression. Paine was quickly convicted of treason in abstentia and outlawed from returning to England. Then he was arrested in France and imprisoned for the crime of being British.