Profs & Pints Annapolis: Thomas Paine on Trial

Profs and Pints Annapolis presents: “Thomas Paine on Trial,” an evening devoted to passing judgment on one of American history’s most complicated figures, with Matthew Dziennik, associate professor of British imperial history at the United States Naval Academy.

Tom Paine was the most significant political writer of his, or arguably any, age. The author of some of the most important books of the American and French revolutions, including Common Sense and The Rights of Man, he was equally celebrated and reviled.

To his supporters, he was the man who made democratic rights and representative government a real possibility. Thomas Edison once said there had never been a “sounder intelligence in this republic.”

To his enemies, Paine was a malcontent who encouraged disruption and revolution and who helped establish the conditions that led thousands to a fateful meeting with Madame Guillotine.

Was Paine a hero, or was he a villain? Come decide for yourself at a talk that will put him on trial. Professor Matthew Dziennik will make the cases for both the prosecution and defense, allowing you to make your own determination.

On behalf of the prosecution, he’ll argue that Paine betrayed his early potential with vicious attacks on former supporters and on Christianity.

For the defense, Professor Dziennik will argue that the man that gave us Common Sense only ever argued for freedom and justice for all.

Whatever side you fall on, you’ll be able to understand how people on both once believed that they lived in the “Age of Paine,” and you’ll be better able to recognize Paine’s influence on the institutions we cherish today. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 4 pm and talk starts at 5:30 pm.)