The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Conway

What it is

The Writings of Thomas Paine is a 1906 edition collected and edited by Moncure Daniel Conway, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in New York and London. This is Volume I, covering 1774 to 1779. Its contents include an essay on African slavery in America, a dialogue between General Wolfe and General Gage near Boston, an essay on the magazine in America, and reflections on the life and death of Lord Clive. The volume also has an introduction and a prefatory note by the editor.

Why it matters

This edition gathers Paine's early writings from the years before and during the American Revolution. Conway was a writer who had also written a life of Paine, so his edition reflects a later scholar's choices about which texts to print and how to introduce them. The essay on slavery shows Paine taking a position against it in the 1770s, a stance students can compare with the attitudes of other founders.

Look closer

• Why might an editor decide to include early essays that are not about the Revolution?
• How does the editor's introduction shape the way you read Paine's words?
• What might be missing from a collection that presents only the writings that were kept and reprinted?