ABSTRACT
'Never was a public character so suddenly exalted to the very pinnacle of fame, or so precipitately hurled into disgrace' a pamphleteer observed of Tom Paine in 1794. Paradoxically, Paine was regarded as an American by the British, by 'his countrymen' Godwin clearly meant Americans, while the inhabitants of the colonies that became the United States considered him to be English; Bell, the publisher of Common Sense, was not alone in calling him an Englishman. While Godwin clearly admired Paine's pamphlet, there were also several hostile responses to Common Sense. Charles Inglis entered the lists early in Philadelphia. The debate provoked by the pamphlet, which foreshadowed many of the debates over and developments in Paine's legacy, was expressed in printed words. No graphic depiction of Paine appears to have been published either in America or Britain at the time.
