Thomas Paine and the Franklins

IT HAS BEEN supposed that Thomas Paine met Benjamin Franklin at some time during the winter of I772-I773, when the exciseman from Lewes was in London trying to get before Parliament a measure for the relief of his fellow civil servants.1 Paine's interest in electricity-reflected later in his articles under the signature of Atlanticus in the Pennsylvania Magazine-and his keen, forthright, skeptical mind probably recommended him to Franklin's notice. At any rate, after Paine's dismissal as exciseman and his decision to start life anew in America, Franklin on September 30, I774, wrote him a letter of introduction to Richard Bache describing the bearer as an ingenious worthy young man.2 Upon Paine's arrival in Philadelphia on the last day of November after a tedious voyage and a severe illness,3 it appears that he owed the ministrations of Dr. Kearsley and possibly the saving of his life to possession of this letter from Franklin.4 His first report to Franklin from the New World, dated March 4, I775, reflects a strong personal gratitude to the sage as his sponsor and advocate in America; this was a sentiment which colored all his future relations with Franklin.5 Paine's introduction to America bore of course its most

Dismissal · Gratitude · Notice · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Possession (linguistics) · Skepticism · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Classics · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology

• Rethinking Thomas Paine and the Origins of the Basic Income Proposal

  Alberto Tena Camporesi•History of Political Economy•2023

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