Free Republic

A 13 pamphlet series by 18th century Enlightenment philosopher/author Thomas Paine, published between 1776 to 1783 during and immediately following the American Revolution, gathered into one volume in 1882 by Moncure D. Conway. Each essay, plus 2 inserts, bolstered the morale of the American colonists to fight hard for their independence, appealed to the English to support the colonist's cause, clarified the issues at stake, and denounced any type of negotiated peace. Replete with quotable quotes, the first pamphlet, Crisis I, begins with the now-familiar words "THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine...

Humankind has a responsibility to exercise good stewardship over this creation. Our world is God's gift to us. So we should look to our greatest minds for inspiration in this task. Thomas Paine is one of those intelligences.

In the American imagination, the founding era shimmers as the golden age of political discourse, a time when philosopher-kings strode the public stage, dispensing wisdom with gentle civility. We prefer to believe that these courtly figures, with their powdered hair and buckled shoes, showed impeccable manners in their political dealings. The appeal of this image seems obvious at a time when many Americans lament the partisan venom and character assassination that have permeated the political process. Unfortunately, this anodyne image of the early republic can be quite misleading. However hard it may be to picture the founders resorting to rough-and-tumble...

In college, we are taught that one of the founders of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine, was a deist. Indeed, he was. What the professors did not tell us was that Paine's masterpiece, "Common Sense" — the pamphlet that persuaded the American people to move from merely seeking some redress of grievance from British government to flat out seeking independence — made almost all of its arguments from the Bible.Paine knew that the American people were the most biblically literate people in the world at that time. Arguably, they were the most biblically literate generation of all history. They were...

"Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression." "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." "Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess." "I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different...

In a letter dated July 2, 1756, Benjamin Franklin presented a proposal to George Whitefield, the most famous preacher of the Great Awakening, that they partner together to establish a Christian colony "in the Ohio," which was frontier at the time. In the letter, Franklin expressed confidence that God would give them success in such a project, "If we undertook it with a sincere regard to his honor." For the next 30 years, they carried on a lively and open correspondence. Whitefield often spoke about faith in Christ and admonished Franklin to make sure he was prepared for the next...

While all others in the right-wing media were spinning heroic tales about Trey Gowdy’s ‘tough DOJ prosecutor’ schtick during the Benghazi hearings and his supposed stance against FBI officials entangled in the Russia collusion and FISA-abuse cases, True Pundit was the lone voice in the political wilderness. Gowdy in fact has worked AGAINST holding the State Dept., FBI and Justice Department accountable for shattering the U.S. Constitution and federal laws. And few in the media or government even blinked, except for Thomas Paine. Still, few others listened to or credited Paine. In fact, many Conservatives lashed out, defending Gowdy and...

A top U.S. scientist and research pioneer has broken her long silence, revealing an insider’s nightmare spanning three decades of conducting research under the governmental control of Dr. Anthony Fauci. And the allegations are downright frightening. (more below) And if true, these details warrant a host of NEW federal investigations to get to the bottom of numerous Fauci-led schemes revealed by Dr. Judy Mikovits on the Thomas Paine Podcast on Tuesday. Dr. Mikovits said Fauci helped imprison her after stealing her proprietary research not once, but twice and her allegations against the White House’s coronavirus top medical advisor and his...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Thomas Paine. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Thomas Paine is one of America's Founding Fathers and preeminent political writer whose writings inspired tenets of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the narrow and fundamental pathway for proper governance. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter...

FBI agents are mourning the death of one of the Bureau’s top financial crimes supervisors who reportedly shot and killed himself on a crowded nite-club dance floor, according to top FBI insiders. Salvatore “Sal” Cincinelli, a former Wall Street broker who joined the FBI in 2010, died last week during a night out after an FBI training session, sources said. Cincinelli was one a supervisory special agent who spearheaded many of the FBI’s high-profile and complex Wall Street investigations, including probing the finances of the Clinton Foundation. After leaving his Wall Street career, Cincinelli was first assigned to the New...

High-ranking FBI officials are spilling the beans on a massive cover up involving Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, the State Department and a scheme that steered untold billions of tax dollars to the Clinton Foundation and Clinton associates. Thomas Paine broke the story on his Patreon show on Tuesday night as well as his new Podcast. And the Justice Department is implicated too. Not to mention the disturbing implications surrounding the mysterious death of the FBI’s top financial crimes investigator who was privy to the details of the scheme while leading the Bureau’s investigation of the Clinton Foundation. Even by Washington...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Thomas Paine. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Thomas Paine is one of America's founding fathers. His book Common Sense has been considered the predominant writings that helped the founders frame the U.S. Constitution.Today's quote, as pertinent as it was in the late 18th Century, has sadly been outdated with the events originating in the Middle East. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Thomas Paine. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Thomas Paine is the author of Common Sense and one of the signficant principals in forming the arguments and laws that became our U.S. Constitution. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Thomas Paine. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Thomas Paine's exellent document, "Common Sense," would be a foreign document in most universities today. To hell with the communist Democrats, let's take today in both glory and pride! All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Thomas Paine. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Thomas Paine was an American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, revolutionary, and an influential Founding Father whose writings provided the genesis for American Exceptionalism. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidential spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the white...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Thomas Paine. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle.Thomas Paine was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, revolutionary, and author of the seminal American thesis, Common Sense.All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidential spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the white squares on the...

George Washington refused to come to the rescue when the pamphleteer who put him on his high horse faced the guillotine... Citizen Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet Common Sense helped ignite the American Revolution, was an enthusiastic early supporter of the French Revolution. He received a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Paris in 1792 and was even granted honorary French citizenship and a seat in the National Convention, the body charged with writing a constitution for the new republic. But Paine angered Maximilien Robespierre and other Jacobin extremists when he urged the Convention to spare the life of the deposed...

General George Washington was so moved by “The American Crisis” that he ordered it read out loud to his troops, rallying them not to disperse at the end of the year when their six-month enlistment was up, and to have courage before the Battle of Trenton. Not having a table in camp, Paine used the head of a drum for his desk. In “The American Crisis,” Thomas Paine wrote: “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 by...

On this day in 1775, King George III speaks before both houses of the British Parliament to discuss growing concern about the rebellion in America, which he viewed as a traitorous action against himself and Great Britain. He began his speech by reading a “Proclamation of Rebellion” and urged Parliament to move quickly to end the revolt and bring order to the colonies. The king spoke of his belief that “many of these unhappy people may still retain their loyalty, and may be too wise not to see the fatal consequence of this usurpation, and wish to resist it, yet...

I can say with certainty, my decision to journey back into journalism was made after the FBI pointed guns at the heads of my wife and children. I knew that first morning (the FBI actually raided my home twice and pointed guns at my family twice) when federal agents raided our home one definitive thing was going to unfold: These bastards — and their bosses — were going to pay for violating my family. My kids. My home. One way or the other, I would have the last word. As I have throughout my life and career. And I was...