Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason, Second American Edition

In this first part of his The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine advocated deistic religion and attacked orthodox Christianity as a collection of fables. He insisted that reason and scientific observation should replace the mysteries, miracles, and prophecies of Christianity.

John Fellows (1759-1844), a fellow deist and later close friend of Paine, copyrighted Part I of The Age of Reason in New York on June 17, 1794, and published the 152-page first American edition, printed by brothers Thomas Swords (1763-1843) and James Swords (1764-1846). In September 1794, Fellows published this cheaper 84-page second American edition, printed by George Forman (ca. 1770-1833). It appears that Forman reprinted The Age of Reason in another 55-page edition later in 1794 to meet the demand.

THOMAS PAINE, The Age of Reason. Being an Investigation of True and of Fabulous Theology, 2d American ed. New York: George Forman for John Fellows, 1794. 84 pp., 5.5" x 8.5", displayed open to first page of text between two panes of glass, secured with electrical tape, 10.125" x 12.125". Edge tears to cover and some other pages; general toning and bent edges; one glass pane broken from top to bottom.

Excerpt
"It has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts upon religion....
"The circumstance that has now taken place in France, of the total abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of every thing appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary; lest, in the general wreck of superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we loose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true." (p5)

Historical Background
Thomas Paine, whose pamphlets Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776-1783) contributed to inspire the American cause in the Revolutionary War, was a very strong supporter of the French Revolution as well. He wrote Rights of Man in two parts in 1791 and 1792 to defend the French Revolution and suggest changes to the British government. After he fled to France, the British government tried him in absentia and convicted him of seditious libel.

In France, Paine was granted honorary French citizenship and elected to the National Convention, despite his inability to speak French. He was even selected as one of nine deputies to be part of the Convention's Constitutional Committee, charged with drafting a constitution for the French Republic. He supported the Republic but argued against the execution of King Louis XVI. By the end of 1793, he was excluded from the Convention as a foreigner, arrested, and imprisoned in Luxembourg. On his way, he managed to place Part I of The Age of Reason in the hands of Joel Barlow, who had it published in London in 1794. Despite the efforts of Americans in Paris and Paine's own protests, he remained in prison and narrowly escaped execution. Through the efforts of new American minister James Monroe, Paine was released from prison in November 1794, and in July 1795, readmitted to the Convention.

Paine was disappointed by the French Revolution's turn toward secularism and atheism and composed the first part of The Age of Reason in 1792 and 1793. Although he wrote it for the French people, Paine dedicated it "To My Fellow Citizens of the United States of America." He completed Part II in October 1795, and it was published by the end of the year. It was a book-by-book refutation of the Bible. Paine completed a third part in 1800 to answer the ablest of the responses to his second part, An Apology for the Bible (1796) by Bishop Richard Watson. However, Paine was so reviled in both the United States and Great Britain that the third part was not published until 1810, a year after Paine's death.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was an English-born intellectual, inventor, and radical pamphleteer who influenced both the American and French Revolutions. He lived and worked in England until 1774, when he migrated to Philadelphia, joining the radical artisan community there. His powerful pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), was the best-selling original work published in eighteenth-century America and had a pronounced impact on the Revolution by making the case for complete independence from Great Britain. He also published a pamphlet series, The American Crisis (thirteen in 1776-1777; three more to 1783), which helped inspire American revolutionaries. General Washington even ordered the first number to be read aloud to his men. Paine later moved to France, published the liberal Enlightenment treatise Rights of Man (1791), and won election to the French National Assembly in 1792. A Girondin, he was arrested in 1793 and narrowly escaped the guillotine during the Reign of Terror. While in prison, he continued to work on The Age of Reason (1794-1807). Paine believed that the American ambassador to France, Federalist Gouverneur Morris, somehow engineered his arrest. Diplomat James Monroe arranged for Paine's release in November 1794, and Paine turned against George Washington and wrote a scathing public letter to Washington in 1796. Paine remained in France until 1802 when, at President Jefferson's invitation, he returned to New York.

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