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Thomas Paine was born on the 29^th January, 1737, in Thetford, Norfolk, in England, as a son of a quaker. After a short basic education he started to work, at first for his father, later as an officer of the army. After emigrating to America in 1747 he first published "African Slavery in America", in the spring of 1775, criticizing slavery in America as being unjust and inhumane. As the English government had imposed taxes on the American colonies without giving them the right of representation in the Parliament he saw no reason for the colonies to stay dependent on England. So on the 10^th of January, 1776, he wrote down his ideas on the American Independence in his pamphlet "Common Sense". In 1791 Paine published his "Rights of Man" in London, which attracted the attention of the French Liberal Party, and he was made a citizen of France and elected to the national assembly, so he stayed in Europe from 1787 to 1802. He was sent to prison because he voted against the execution of Louis XVI and so incurred Robespierre´s anger, the leader of the Jacobines. Although he was a supporter of the French Revolution, Paine did not like the radical measures of Robespierre. After his liberation he went back to America and lived there for fourteen years more tolerated than estimated until he died 1809 in poverty and oblivion. He wanted to reform the policy of the government but not with radical measures.