Tom Paine's War: Thomas Paine in the American Revolution — Liberty 250 Lecture
A Liberty 250 lecture examining Thomas Paine's radical writings and their pivotal influence on the ideology of the American Revolution.
Why we picked this
A lecture on the most dangerous pamphleteer in American history, delivered at the tavern where Washington said farewell to his officers. The setting alone is worth the trip.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the Liberty 250 lecture series revisits the intellectual foundations of the American Revolution. This installment focuses on Thomas Paine, whose Common Sense sold more copies per capita than any American publication before or since, and whose radical democratic vision went further than most of his contemporaries were willing to follow.
Fraunces Tavern Museum — where George Washington delivered his farewell address to his officers in 1783 — provides a setting that makes the history feel less abstract. The lecture examines Paine’s role not just as a propagandist but as a political philosopher whose ideas about democracy, religion, and human rights remain contested today.