ABSTRACT

Starting over was something that Thomas Paine had long been accustomed to. As a young man he left his trade as a corset-maker to sail the seas as a privateer, only to return to England and his former trade. As a young widower he again set aside his life as an artisan to pursue a career in the civil service. Finally, after his dismissal from the Excise and another brief stint as a corsetmaker he found himself in a small town, newly married. He was recently reinstated as an excise officer, and served as a vestryman. Time and again Paine managed to reinvent a new life for himself, and though none of his occupations had led to prosperity, there had always been the possibility of a new chance for success. However, by the autumn of 1774, Paine had run out of opportunities in England and had to look elsewhere for his future.