One wife died, and from the other he was separated. At all
events, at thirty-seven, alone and friendless, with empty pockets and
a letter from Benjamin Franklin as his sole asset, he set sail for
America in the year 1774.
Of course he went to the Quaker City, and speedily became the editor
of the _Pennsylvania Magazine_, through the pages of which he cried a
new message of liberty and justice to the troubled Colonies. He, an
Englishman, urged America to break away from England; he, of Quaker
birth and by heredity and training opposed to fighting, advocated the
most stringent steps for the consummation of national freedom. In that
clear-eyed and disinterested band of men who conceived and cradled our
Republic, Paine stands a giant even among giants.
Many persons believe that it was he who actually composed and wrote
the Declaration of Independence; it is certain that he is more than
half responsible for it. The very soul and fibre and living spirit of
the United States was the soul and fibre and living spirit of Thomas
Paine, and, in the highest American standards and traditions, remains
the same today.
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