We are at least somewhat familiar with some of the more well known fathers of our country, like Washington, Jefferson and Franklin. We take for granted free speech, religious freedom, the right to pursue happiness, the right to assemble groups of like thinkers without the threat of the government throwing us all in prison. The founders did not all agree on the Bill of Rights, or many other concepts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or the later Emancipation Proclamation and other determinations. We are very fortunate today. We can irritate the community, most of the time, by turning up our booming car stereos to their full 400 watts.
Life is good.
Thomas Paine is said to have been hated by a majority of Americans after the war. He was sort of used to being hated. Then he came to America and became involved in the attempt to form a more perfect union. But even then, even after his heroics of the revolution, he was hated by many and for the same reasons-for his dissenting views on religion. Whatever is said about Thomas Paine, my purpose here is to only show that he stood up for his unpopular beliefs at great cost to his own character and future.