Podcast Summary: Newt’s World

Episode 929: Founding Fathers – Thomas Paine
Host: Newt Gingrich (Gingrich 360)
Release Date: January 1, 2026

Overview

In this episode, Newt Gingrich provides an in-depth portrait of Thomas Paine, a pivotal but often overlooked figure among America's Founding Fathers. Newt discusses Paine's complicated personal life, influential writings, radical ideology, and ultimate fall from grace. The episode presents Paine as both an inspiring revolutionary voice and an outsider whose uncompromising positions isolated him from his contemporaries and left his legacy in a state of controversy.

Key Discussion Points

1. Thomas Paine’s Early Life and Formative Years

• Humble Origins in England ([02:41])
  • Born in Thetford, Norfolk, in 1737.
  • Apprenticeship in his father’s trade (stay making) and early adventures at sea.
  • Quaker influences via his father.
• First Marriage and Career Setbacks
  • His first wife and child die in childbirth.
  • As a young excise (tax) officer, Paine published his first piece of public advocacy, “Case of the Officers of Excise” ([05:36]), resulting in the loss of his job.

"An augmentation of salary sufficient to enable them to live honestly and competently would produce more good effect than all the laws the land can enforce."
— Thomas Paine, paraphrased by Newt Gingrich ([06:26])

2. Migration to America and Early Impact

• Benjamin Franklin’s Influence ([07:52])
  • Franklin meets Paine in London and encourages him to emigrate, providing a letter of introduction.
  • Paine arrives in Philadelphia in late 1774.
• Rapid Ascendency in American Society
  • Becomes managing editor of Philadelphia Magazine ([09:02]), contributing under pseudonyms.
  • Writes a foundational essay on the press’s importance:

“The press has not only a great influence over our manners and morals, but contributes largely to our pleasures. … I consider a magazine as a kind of beehive…”
— Thomas Paine, quoted by Newt Gingrich ([10:02])

• Early Anti-Slavery Activism ([11:33])
  • Publishes anti-slavery essays, helps found the first Anti-Slavery Society in America.

“That many civilized, nay, Christianized people should approve and be concerned in the savage practice is surprising…”
— Thomas Paine, from his essay on slavery ([12:03])

3. Common Sense and Its Revolutionary Impact

• Publishing Common Sense Anonymously ([13:32])
  • Released January 10, 1776, due to fear of being branded a traitor.
• Enormous Popular Success and Influence
  • Sold over 120,000 copies in three months, 500,000 by end of the Revolution ([16:58]).
  • Reactions from American press underscore its catalytic effect on public opinion:

“If you know the author of Common Sense, tell him he’s done wonders and worked miracles, made Tories Whigs and washed blackamoor’s white.”
— Pennsylvania Evening Post (02/13/1776) ([18:17])

“Your production may justly be compared to a land flood that sweeps all before it. … We were blind, but on reading these enlightening works, the scales have fallen from our eyes.”
— New London Gazette, quoted by Gingrich ([19:20])

4. The Crisis and Bolstering Morale

• Washington’s Request amid Dire Circumstances ([22:16])
  • Paine serves as a rifleman, persuaded by Washington to write a pamphlet explaining why to persevere.
  • The American Crisis published, opening lines become iconic rallying cry:

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country. But he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
— Thomas Paine, Crisis ([23:32])

• Direct Impact on the Revolution
  • Crisis pamphlet is read to the troops before Washington’s crossing of the Delaware.

“His first great impact is getting people to decide that they want to be independent. His second great impact is convincing them to keep working and to keep fighting.”
— Newt Gingrich ([24:47])

5. Chronicler of War and Further Advocacy ([25:11])

• War Correspondence and Later Pamphlets
  • Writes 16 articles, provides critical accounts of the Continental Army’s challenges and retreats.
• Further Inspirational Writing
  • Crisis 4’s enduring message:

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”
— Thomas Paine ([28:15])

6. Political Turmoil and Advocacy

• Silas Deane Affair and Downfall ([29:49])
  • Paine exposes private dealings, accidentally reveals diplomatic secrets, and is removed from his post.
• Abolition of Slavery Efforts ([31:09])
  • Writes the preamble to Pennsylvania’s Gradual Emancipation Act — the first legislative measure toward abolition.

7. Paine in Europe: England and Revolutionary France

• Defending Radicalism
  • Publishes Rights of Man (1791) in response to Edmund Burke; a direct repudiation of monarchy ([34:54]):

“It is a perversion of terms to say that a charter gives rights; it operates by a contra that of taking rights away. Rights are inherently in all the inhabitants, but charters, by annulling those rights in the majority, leave the right by exclusion in the hands of a few. … The individuals themselves … entered into a contract with each other to produce a government. And this is the only mode in which governments have a right to arise.”
— Thomas Paine, Rights of Man ([35:43])

• French Revolution’s Lure and Dangers
  • Assists in drafting the French Republic’s constitution; imprisoned for opposing the execution of Louis XVI ([38:17]).
  • Writes The Age of Reason in prison, barely escaping execution.

8. Later Years and Legacy

• Falling Out with Washington
  • Openly criticizes Washington for failing to intervene during his imprisonment in France ([39:10]).
• Return to America: Ignominy and Death
  • Invited back by Thomas Jefferson; reputation diminished, greeted with hostility and suspicion ([41:01]).
  • Dies mostly forgotten and maligned; only six attended his funeral ([42:46]).

9. Paine’s Enduring Legacy

• Jefferson’s Appraisal

"No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple and unassuming language."
— Thomas Jefferson (as paraphrased by Gingrich) ([43:57])

• Final Reflection
  • Gingrich emphasizes Paine’s key legacy: the power of ideas and the crucial role played by ordinary people, inspired by accessible, popular writing.

"To understand America, to understand the role of the common citizen, to understand how much the American Revolution was, at its heart, a popular revolution ... that’s the legacy of Thomas Paine."
— Newt Gingrich ([44:32])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Written Word

  "I consider a magazine as a kind of beehive which both allures the swarm and provides room to store their sweets."
  — Thomas Paine ([10:02])

• On Perseverance in Freedom

  "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."
  — Thomas Paine ([28:15])

• On Rights and Government

  "Rights are inherently in all the inhabitants ... The individuals themselves, each in his own personal and sovereign right, entered into a contract with each other to produce a government."
  — Thomas Paine, Rights of Man ([35:43])

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |-----------|-------| | 02:41 | Introduction to Thomas Paine’s life & character | | 07:52 | Meeting Benjamin Franklin & migration to America | | 09:02 | Editorship at Philadelphia Magazine | | 11:33 | Anti-slavery advocacy | | 13:32 | Writing and impact of Common Sense | | 16:58 | Common Sense’s reception and revolution’s climate | | 22:16 | Paine’s role in rallying the army, The American Crisis | | 25:11 | Paine as correspondent, further writing | | 28:15 | Quotes from the Crisis pamphlets | | 29:49 | Committee for Foreign Affairs & Silas Deane Affair | | 31:09 | Pennsylvania’s Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act | | 34:54 | Paine’s radical ideology in Rights of Man | | 38:17 | Involvement in French Revolution, imprisonment | | 41:01 | Return to U.S., reputation and final years | | 43:57 | Thomas Jefferson’s appraisal | | 44:32 | Gingrich’s final thoughts on Paine’s legacy |

Conclusion

Newt Gingrich’s exploration of Thomas Paine illustrates the power of the written word in shaping political transformation. Paine emerges as the volatile but vital pamphleteer—outspoken on abolition, independence, civil rights, and democracy—whose uncompromising ideals advanced, but also ultimately marginalized, him. His life is a cautionary tale about the costs and necessity of radical advocacy, and his legacy remains foundational in American democratic thought.

For more on Thomas Paine, visit the show page at newtsworld.com