Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	high interest, readability grades 4 to 5
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.11

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		corset, smokeless, bestseller, born, writing, corsets, officer, outlaw, funeral, family, pamphlet, trouble, attention, arrest, free, simple
	content words:		Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Common Sense, George Washington, French Revolution, James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, New York, New York City, Thomas Edison

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Thomas Paine
By Cathy Pearl

¹     Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1737. His family was very poor. Thomas went to school for a little while. His father ran out of money to send him. Thomas' father made him an apprentice. Thomas had to learn how to make corsets. A corset is a kind of clothing. It is used to make people look thinner.

²     Thomas did not do well at this job. He went to work at sea. He was only 19. He didn't do well at this either and went to England. He worked as a tax officer. He was fired twice in four years. Soon, he met Benjamin Franklin. Ben helped Thomas move to Philadelphia.

³     In 1776, Thomas wrote Common Sense. Thomas had only been in the colonies a little more than a year. Common Sense was 47 pages long. Thomas used simple writing. He wanted all the colonists to read it.

⁴     The writing attacked England. It said that the colonists should be free. Common Sense was very popular. A lot of people read it. Colonists bought 120,000 copies. It was a bestseller.

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