Welcome to The Life of Thomas Paine Productions and this introduction to our Lesson Plans. We hope that you and your students find them to be valuable and exciting resources. They will tell you the story of America’s most radical and largely unknown Founding Father, who changed the world with his pen. His “Common Sense” ignited the American Revolution, “Rights of Man” defined the French Revolution” and “The Age of Reason” called on us to use our ability to reason as the basis for our beliefs and morality. He believed that “one must always speak the truth as one sees it, no matter the consequences”. A most dangerous commitment, that had him nearly hung in England, nearly guillotined in France, and refused a mug of beer and the right to vote when he returned to his dear America. But it also gave him a most extraordinary life in a world full of enlightenment, revolutions, and his writings, some of the most influence and inspiring that the world has ever seen.
The film is divided into six Chapters approximately 12 minutes long, each with three suggested questions for research plus links to the relevant segments of the script and film. The STATEMENT FOR TEACHERS – HB.PDF in the LESSON PLAN RESIOURCES below gives you further details.
