ABSTRACT
As Chapter 5 shows, Chartist historiography has downplayed the significance of Paine whose place in the radical pantheon seems less assured than that of other luminaries, notably Hunt and Cobbett. Paine’s rationalism, republicanism, internationalism, deism and his emphasis on natural rights, it is argued, sat uneasily in a movement that was predominantly monarchist, English, insular, religious and, above all, constitutional. Yet as this chapter argues, this interpretation is based on a caricatured view of both Paine and Chartist constructions of Paine – a caricature which has its origins in the success of Paine’s enemies in identifying him with the excesses of the French Revolution. Although there were occasions when Chartists sensibly camouflaged their Paineite principles – by professing their attachment to the English constitution and aversion to ‘French’ ideas of democracy – it would be a mistake to assume that this act of concealment was readily adopted by Chartists. Currents of Paineite radicalism were often close to the surface of Chartism – much closer than most historians have been willing to allow.
