Making sense of this crazy world · historymadeeasier
Thomas Paine and the American + French Revolutions
January 18, 2026·28 min·2 clips
Paine argued no generation has the right to bind posterity forever on 'how the world shall be governed.'
As heard by us
A clear, forceful portrait of Thomas Paine as a key maker of democratic ideas.
The piece presents Thomas Paine as a pamphleteer, journalist, propagandist, polemicist, and a kind of philosopher, and it makes a solid case for his reach across both the American and French revolutions.
Why you'd press play
Hear Thomas Paine framed as a key voice behind democracy and the American and French revolutions.
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