ABSTRACT
The first progressives to question Thomas Paine came from within the ranks of the reform movement in Britain. In fact, reformists did not expect Rights of Man to have the impact it did and feared the political consequences of a popular reformist movement. The reformists were also skeptical about how the French Revolution had unfolded and feared its spread to England. Paine work as an activist in the American and French Revolutions inspired others to follow him. Paine also modified his views on revolution. In Rights of Man he argued in favor of revolution as the only mechanism capable of producing real political change. But after the problems that emerged after the French Revolution, his own experience of being jailed in France during the Terror, and a successful transition of power in America with the 1800 elections, Paine's views softened. And it was personal experience that drove his changes of heart rather than other people criticizing his ideas.
