Thomas Paine, the Apostle of Liberty: An Address Delivered in Chicago, January 29, 1916; Including the Testimony of Five Hundred Witnesses — John Shaqi
Thomas Paine, the Apostle of Liberty: An Address Delivered in Chicago, January 29, 1916; Including the Testimony of Five Hundred WitnessesRemsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
History
Thomas Paine, the Apostle of Liberty: An Address Delivered in Chicago, January 29, 1916; Including the Testimony of Five Hundred Witnesses
Remsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809
Rev. Dr. M. J. Savage: "He wrote the book which caused the Declaration
of Independence, a book in such great demand that the presses groaned
for months in endeavoring to supply the demand; a book, the income
from the circulation of which, to-day would make a man rich, and yet he
steadfastly refused to receive a cent for it."
More than fifty years ago, the Rev. Moncure D. Conway, then pastor of a
church in Cincinnati, in a eulogy on Paine, said: "So disinterested was
he, that, when his works were printed by the ten thousand, and as fast
as one edition was out another was demanded, he, a poor and pinched
author, who might very easily have grown rich, would not accept one cent
for them, declared that he would not coin his principles, and made to
the States a present of the copyrights. His brain was his fortune,--nay
his living; he gave it all to American Independence." Paine also gave
the copyrights of the several numbers of his "Crisis" to the States. The
close of the Revolution found him, to quote from Dr. Conway's biography
of Paine, "a penniless patriot who might easily have had fifty thousand
pounds in his pocket."
(I shall quote freely from Dr. Conway. For all time this biographer will
be the standard authority on Thomas Paine. He was a life-long student
of Paine. In each of the three countries which Paine served, America,
France and England, he had full access to the national archives of
Paine's time. He was a distinguished pulpit orator in both hemispheres,
and had a world-wide reputation as a literary man. Above all his love of
truth and justice and His rugged honesty and candor make him a witness
whose testimony is unimpeachable. To him Andrew Carnegie pays this
tribute: "He has passed, but he has left behind him a precious legacy
to all who were so fortunate as to be able to call him friend. They are
better men and women because Moncure Conway lived and entered into their
lives.")
United States Congress (Aug. 26, 1785): "_Resolved_, That the early,
unsolicited, and continued labors of Mr. Thomas Paine, in explaining and
enforcing the principles of the late Revolution by ingenious and timely
publications upon the nature of liberty and civil government have been
well received by the citizens of these States, and merit the approbation
of Congress."
This resolution was passed by a unanimous vote.
Allibone's Dictionary of Authors: "He was rewarded by a donation from
Congress of $3,000."
"In 1782, at the suggestion of Washington, Congress granted $800 to
Paine.... In 1784 the State of New York presented him with 277 acres of
land at New Rochelle, and Pennsylvania with £500; and in 1785 Congress
gave him $3,000."--_International Encyclopedia_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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