Rhode Island, Thomas Paine, and Common Sense

Part of Rhode Island in the Semiquincentennial series.

 January 10, the anniversary of the publication of Common Sense

By Scanned by uploader, originally by Thomas Paine. - http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/history/common-sense-larger.html, Public Domain

When Common Sense was published in Philadelphia in January 1776, it moved quickly through the colonies and reshaped public conversation about independence. The pamphlet is most often associated with Philadelphia, where Thomas Paine was living at the time, but Rhode Island played an important role in how Paine’s ideas circulated, were printed, and were received.

Rhode Island, John Carter and the Providence publication hub

By Unknown author - https://sites.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/johncarter.jpg — via Wikipedia, Public Domain

One of the most direct Rhode Island connections comes through Providence printer John Carter, who published the Providence Gazette. Carter issued reprinted Rhode Island editions of Common Sense in 1776. These printings helped spread Paine’s arguments throughout New England.

In the eighteenth century, printing was labor intensive and politically risky. Carter’s decision to publish Common Sense indicates that he believed Paine’s call for independence had a receptive audience in Rhode Island. Since its earliest European settlement, it was a colony with a strong tradition of questioning authority and defending local autonomy.

Common Sense, and other pamphlets like it, were read aloud in taverns, discussed in meetinghouses, and passed hand to hand. In a small colony like Rhode Island, that circulation could be fast and personal.

John Carter's House in 2010 (photo by me)

As an aside, Carter's house still stands, and until 2025 housed the Providence Preservation Society's headquarters.

A political climate ready for Paine’s arguments

Rhode Islanders didn't need to be convinced that tension with Britain was real. In 1772, conflicts over trade restrictions, taxation, and enforcement had triggered the burning of the Gaspee. The colony’s strong merchant culture had already created an environment where Paine’s arguments resonated.

Independence before the Declaration

In Rhode Island, the legislature reflected Paine’s ideas and turned them into action. On May 4, 1776, months before the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, Rhode Island formally renounced allegiance to the British Crown. (Read a typed version from the RI Secretary of State.)

Paine and Rhode Island

I couldn't find any documentation of Paine's reaction to Rhode Island's Act of Renunciation. He was in Philadelphia at the time, and the Continental Congress met there. He was well-connected with many of the members, so it's highly likely that he knew about it.

What we do have is a series of letters, also published in the Providence Gazette, dating from 1782 into 1783, chastising Rhode Island for refusing to pay the "five percent duty." Which is to say a tax. Which is to say "remember Rhode Island and the Gaspee?"

It appears that Paine was less than impressed. In his final letter, he writes:

It is needless for me to make any other remarks on these letters, than to say, that while I enjoy the high esteem and opinion of good and great men, I am perfectly unconcerned at the mean and snarling ingratitude of little incendiaries.