By R.W. Morrell

Thomas Paine’s American Ideology. By Owen A. Aldridge. 327pp. University of Delaware Press, Newark, 1984. £28.95. London: Associated University Presses.

THIS book unquestionably establishes its author, who is a Vice-President of the TPS, as the world’s leading Paine scholar. It is a comprehensive examination of the intellectual content of Paine’s works as a whole, and the issues they raised and the arguments they stimulated. Paine did not write in a political vacuum and was familiar with the work of a considerable number of leading scholars and some not quite so leading.

The author devotes considerable space to the parallels between Locke and Paine, even noting that both denied authorship of at least one of their printed works , though here one might add that Paine had many pieces published in newspapers and periodicals which are unsigned, and the problem of which are correctly attributed to him and which have been incorrectly ascribed is discussed in a valuable appendix to the book.

The intellectual background and reception of Common Sense is treated at length, as one might expect, and critics of Paine have their ideas clearly and fairly presented, and Aldridge feels that it was a series of newspaper articles by a writer using the pseudonym “Cato” – this writer was one William Smith – which Paine himself felt to be the most important reply to his pamphlet. Paine replied to “Cato” using the pseudonym “The Forester”.

Aldridge ascribes to Paine for the first time authorship of the pamphlet, Four Letters on Interesting Subjects, published by the Philadelphia firm of Steiner and Cist in 1776. The pamphlet takes up a promise made in the last of Paine’s “Forester” letters to discuss the distinction between a constitution and a form of government.

This is a valuable book which all serious students of Paine will need to consult, and I suspect it will become essential reading to anyone wishing to familiarise themselves on the key issues in political thought debated in the 18th century, and which have in many instances a direct bearing on our current concern with human rights. The book has a good index, extensive notes and a six page bibliography. If it has a weakness it is perhaps in the need to give greater attention to how science and scientific speculation affected Paine’s thinking, which are not adequately covered anywhere. But my main grumble, if it can be termed such, is the price, which will mean many a person who could use it will not be able to afford it – and in this day of financial problems affecting libraries many will not buy it though here I hope I am wrong.