Thomas Paine V2 Bobblehead

Thomas Paine was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.  Born in England on January 29, 1737, Paine’s early life was riddled with struggles.  At the age of thirteen, Paine was apprenticed to his father as a corset maker.  After completing his apprenticeship, Paine worked as a privateer, tax collector, school teacher, and tobacco shop owner. After his business failed, Paine sold his possessions to avoid debtor’s prison and moved to London where he was introduced to Benjamin Franklin.  With Franklin’s encouragement and a letter of recommendation, Paine emigrated to America in 1774.  In Philadelphia, Paine quickly found work as an editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine.  Paine grew the magazine’s readership by writing essays and articles attacking slavery and arguing for worker rights, and appealing to working-class Americans. Paine’s January, 1776 publication of the pamphlet, “Common Sense,” became a major