American Leviathan

American Leviathan

The Corset-Maker Who Started a Revolution

Thomas Paine had failed at everything. Then he wrote two pamphlets that changed the world.

Sep 02, 2026
∙ Paid

Thomas Paine arrived in Philadelphia in late 1774, thirty-seven years old and definitively, comprehensively unsuccessful.

He had been a corset-maker, like his father. He had been a sailor briefly. He …

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