The Story Of Tom Paine

Originally Aired: April 30, 1940 Cavalcade of America #185, "The Story Of Tom Paine," In 1774 London, Tom Payne sits at the Cheshire Cheese with poet Oliver Goldsmith, passionately discussing freedom and the growing crisis between England and America. Though England boasts a proud tradition of liberty from Magna Carta to the Bill of Rights, Payne sees a dangerous contradiction: a handful of officials in Parliament are imposing unreasonable taxation on the colonies, betraying the very principles Englishmen claim to cherish. When Dr. Benjamin Franklin visits Payne's humble lodgings and finds him paying his last shillings for rent, the elder statesman makes a bold proposal: come to America, where a new world needs new ideas and a voice to crystallize the colonial yearning for freedom. The story follows Payne as he takes Franklin's advice and journeys to Philadelphia, where tensions simmer following events in Boston. As colonists debate whether to remain loyal subjects or stand against oppression, Payne finds himself positioned to give voice to revolutionary ideals through his pen, facing the monumental task of helping a young nation define and fight for the freedom he believes should be every person's right.