OF PAINE AND EMERSON

Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds me of Thomas Paine, his predecessor in philosophy. Paine was the author of COMMON SENSE, CRISIS, “Declaration of Independence” and much more . Thomas Paine was the theoretician behind the American, French and Haitian Revolutions. Emerson wrote NATURE and the essay “Self-Reliance” and influenced Henry David Thoreau. All were abolitionists; Paine was from England; Emerson and Thoreau were from Massachusetts.