Lewes welcomes Raskin for talk on Paine’s Common Sense

Rep. Jamie Raskin has focused a good part of his life on a failed corset-maker from England.

But what Thomas Paine lacked in garment skills, he made up for by writing pamphlets that sparked the American Revolution and changed the world.

Raskin, D-Md., came to Cape Henlopen High School on the evening of Jan. 10, 250 years to the day from when Paine’s Common Sense was printed for the first time. The pamphlet sold a reported 120,000 copies in its first six months.

The special program was part of the Lewes250 celebration. It was moderated by Ron Collins, a retired law professor, co-founder of the History Book Festival and distinguished lecturer at Lewes Public Library.

The event began with introductions by Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, and U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del. Lewes Mayor Amy Marasco later read audience-submitted questions.

Raskin pointed to the fact that when Common Sense was printed, the colonists were split down the middle when it came to wanting independence from Britain.

Common Sense ignited the spark that changed hearts and minds. George Washington even had his troops reading it by campfire light at Valley Forge.

“The breakthrough of Common Sense was to say this is a revolutionary independence in America. It was not to proclaim our own monarchy or aristocracy, but to found government on this new principle of being a democratic republic,” Raskin said. “Paine took the position that, from the standpoint of radical democracy, every other political system has the quality of the emperor’s new clothes, somebody trying to dress up their own power.”

Raskin called Paine an “extraordinary figure politically and intellectually for America.”

Paine contended that, in America, the law is king.

He advocated for women’s right to vote, pressed for the abolition of slavery and argued that America should be the first nation to abolish the death penalty.

Raskin stood to recite a line from another of Paine’s influential pamphlets, The Crisis, which was published in December 1776.

He said, “These are the times that try men’s, and women’s, souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will shrink at this moment from the service of their cause and their country ... the more difficult the struggle, the more glorious in the end will be our victory.”

Raskin explained that he added “and women’s” to the historical line at the behest of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who pointed out that Paine was a feminist.

Paine lived in Lewes, England, from 1768-74, in a 15th-century building called Bull House. 

Paine saw the promise in America from the time he arrived in 1774, saying, “If this land lives up to its ideals, it will become an asylum for humanity, a refuge for people seeking freedom.”

Raskin said that sentiment was shared in Paine’s works.

“Common Sense means the sense we have in common, a sixth sense we all have when we are willing to speak together, listen to each other and reason together, that there is wisdom in crowds, that we are smarter collectively than we are on our own,” Raskin said.

Raskin said Paine’s vision still resonates as America celebrates its 250th birthday.

“When our prisons are empty of prisoners, and the streets are empty of beggars and the older people have sufficient means to live, then we can boast of our constitution and we can boast of our government,” Raskin said.

Raskin has been campaigning for a statue of Paine in Washington, D.C. He said they are waiting for the secretary of the interior to sign off on the project, but he hopes the monument will go up in two to three years.

Following the program at the high school, Raskin attended a reception at the Lewes Public Library.

Mary Alice Kelly a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution Col. David Hall Chapter and Lewes250 Committee chair, presented him with a state regent’s First in Freedom pin. Funds from the purchase of the pin go to support the Friends of the Fallen nonprofit group at Dover Air Force Base.

For a list of future Lewes250 events, go to Lewes250.com.