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K-12 Outreach Resources on Thomas Paine

Primary Sources For Teaching About Thomas Paine and His Works

Documents

Print Resources

  • Kaye, Harvery. Thomas Paine: Firebrand of the Revolution . New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  • Foner, Eric. Tom Paine and Revolutionary America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.
  • Fruchtman, Jack, Jr. Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994.
  • Keane, John. Tom Paine: A Political Life. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995.
  • Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Also published by New York: Alfred A. Knopf, distributed by Random House, Inc., 1997.

Web Resources For Teaching About Thomas Paine and His Works

Background Information

  • Thomas Paine National Historical Association
    -http://www.thomaspaine.org
    This is the website of The Thomas Paine National Historical Association. This association was "founded January 29, 1884 in New York City, [and] is among the oldest historical associations in the United States. Our mission, to educate the world about the life, times and works of Thomas Paine, is designed to ensure Paine's rightful place in history as the preeminent founder of the United States of America. He was, in fact, the first person to coin this phrase. In the course of his lifetime, Paine was an outstanding political and social influence upon the entire world." This site is quite useful for finding out background information on Thomas Paine. There is an extensive bibliographical section entitled, "Life & Works of Thomas Paine" which has links to various bibliographies, books, timelines, and information about Thomas Paine.
  • "Thomas Paine-Writer/Propagandist." Secondary School Educators/About.Com
    -http://712educators.about.com/cs/biographies/p/paine.htm
    This website, sponsored by About.com and designed specifically for Secondary School Educators, includes biographical information about Thomas Paine, as well as links to other articles and suggested readings for teaching about his life and works. Seems like a great website as the material featured is written by teachers for teachers.
  • The Revolution, Constitution and New Nation
    -http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/CAS/US_History/sem1.html
    This site is a seminar that examines the importance of Paine's writings in relationship to its contemporaries; the Constitution, the Declaration and the Bill of Rights.
  • Biography of Thomas Paine
    http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/tpaine/paine.htm
    This site contains general biographical information on Thomas Paine and links to other sources.
  • "Early American Literature 1600-1900, Resources for K-12"
    -    http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/amlitfirst.htm#I
    Use the link to "Colonial Literature (1700-1800): Reason and Revolution" to find the link to "Thomas Paine," which guides you to a series of sites featuring the life and works of Thomas Paine.
  • TomPaine.com(mon sense)
    -http://www.tompaine.com/
    This site is not focused on the life and times of Tom Paine, but rather is inspired by "Thomas Paine-the revolutionary thinker and activist known for his incisive, biting commentaries." This site does not include any lesson plans for teaching about Thomas Paine, but is interesting no less, and worth taking a look at.

    According to the website, "TomPaine.com is for people who want to keep in touch with the progressive community but don't have time to surf dozens of websites. We do it for you. It's also for people who care about the progressive cause and are looking for an online home. Each day we scour the country-from Capitol Hill to newspapers to think tanks and activist groups-and highlight the news, ideas and actions that you need to stay fully informed. Because we're based in Washington, D.C., expect us to be obsessed with the workings of the nation's capitol.

    TomPaine.com was founded by John Moyers in 1995 to amplify public-interest voices and take on controversial issues-often in coordination with regular advertisements published on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. TomPaine.com is a project of the Institute for America's Future, a 501(c)(3) organization supported by grants and private donations.

Lesson Plans

  • "Thomas Paine Video Lesson Plan." C-SPAN American Writers: A Journey Though History
    -http://www.americanwriters.org/classroom/videolesson/vlp03_paine.asp
    This video, part of C-SPAN's American Writers Program, features Thomas Paine and Common Sense. Various themes and questions about Thomas Paine's life and works are addressed in the video, and there is a link to the complete video clip list, which allows teachers to use clip descriptions to create their own lesson plans. Each theme contains questions and video clips appropriate for varying grade levels. The video/focus on Paine is based on three major themes, "The Press," "Country," and "Revolution."
  • "The American Revolution: The Declaration and Beyond"
    -    http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/revwar2/revwar2.rtf
    This lesson, sponsored by the DiscoverySchool.com website, is absolutely awesome. Designed for U.S. History students in grades 6-8, this lesson uses excerpts from Thomas Paine's Common Sense in order to show students how, as the American Revolution approached, writers created highly persuasive documents calling for separation from England. Students use Thomas Paine's writing as a jumping-off point for learning about argumentation, or persuasive writing, and then write their own arguments, or persuasive essays. The lesson includes detailed discussion questions, possible adaptation of the lesson, evaluation methods, and even lists suggested readings and helpful web links.
  • "Thomas Paine and 'Common Sense' Overview"
    -http://www.orange.k12.oh.us/teachers/ohs/TJordan/Pages/TPaine.html
    This lesson is designed to help students understand the use of propaganda during the American Revolutionary War, while simultaneously encouraging them to analyze a primary source document in the context of the period of time. Students will analyze the pamphlet Common Sense by Thomas Paine and investigate its impact on colonial thinking. The lesson includes objectives, procedure guidelines, topics for discussion and teacher assessment tools.
  • "Explore the Main Points of Common Sense" contributed by Andrew Sullivan
    -http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/primarysources/revolution/classroom.html
    This lesson, sponsored on the Learner.org website, was developed by a teacher because he realized that the language in Thomas Paine's Common Sense is quite challenging for modern students. Through this activity he hoped to show his students that Common Sense was meant to, "appeal to average citizens, not writings meant only for the ruling elite." In this activity, students are asked to read an excerpt, and then answer a series of questions regarding Paine's main points. The lesson is brief, but seems like it might be helpful when students read Common Sense for the first time.
  • "Lesson Plan," by Dawn L. Mahan
    -http://www-pub.naz.edu:9000/~dlmahan/john%20paine.pdf
    This lesson plan covers the topics of: Pre-revolution, loyalist, patriot, and (Thomas) Paine. It's designed for 11th grade students of Language Arts and Social Studies. The instructions and adaptation suggestions are great and there is a discussion of which New York State educational standards are assessed in this lesson. There is even a "Lesson Follow-up" section to address what the students should learn from this lesson and how the teacher will know that they've in fact learned it.
  • "The Daily Press Lesson Plan."
    -http://www.dailypress.com/extras/solutions/lp010801.doc
    In this lesson, students study the texts of two primary sources-the Declaration of Independence and Common Sense-to come to a deeper understanding of the colonists' decision to revolt against England. They will summarize key ideas contained in the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Paine's pamphlet "Common Sense." They will understand the "voice" used by the authors of these two documents, and be able to rewrite some of the key portions of these two documents in modern English. This is a very thorough lesson plan, and includes addresses for other websites covering the topics of Thomas Paine, Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence.
  • "The American Revolution"
    -http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/amrevol.html
    This website is designed for teachers looking for more information on teaching about the American Revolution. The site includes links to lesson plans, student projects, excerpts from documents such as Thomas Paine's Common Sense, and much much more. This website is a goldmine for finding information about all aspects of the American Revolution, including people, places, important documents and events.
  • "Thomas Paine and Common Sense"
    -    http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/BuilderV03/LPTools/LPShared/lpdisplay.asp?LPID=16608
    This lesson, sponsored by Georgia Learning Connections, is the fifth in the Age of Reason unit, the third unit in the full course sequence for American Literature. Thomas Paine believed the colonies needed to sever ties with Great Britain. In the pamphlet, Common Sense, he outlines his reasons. In this lesson, students read Common Sense and answer questions based on their reading. As an added bonus, there is an explanation of which "QCC Standards" are assessed within the lesson for grades 9-12.
  • "Thomas Paine: A Rebel With A Cause"
    -    http://members.aol.com/MrDonnHistory/American.html
    This website entitled, "Mrs. Donn's American History Lesson Plans" contains lesson plans for a variety of topics in United States' History. Under the "American Revolution" link, there is a link to the lesson plan entitled, "Thomas Paine: A Rebel With A Cause." This lesson plan allows the students to "go back in time" in order to read some of Thomas Paine's original work, and evaluate its importance. It seems to be a bit advanced, and would probably work best for honors students in grades 11-12.
  • "Who Is Thomas Paine?"
    -    http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/BuilderV03/LPTools/LPShared/lpdisplay.asp?LPID=16608
    In this lesson, sponsored by Georgia Learning Connections, students research the life and works of Thomas Paine. The lesson includes a handout and guided internet research. There is also a detailed description of the procedures and activities used within the lesson, and an explanation of which "QCC Standards" are addressed for grades 9-12.

This 'webliography' was developed by Carol Chatel, Programs Coordinator for the
International Studies Education Project of San Diego (ISTEP)