“A TURNING POINT IN PAINE'S POLITICAL THINKING": PAINE’S LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE ABBÉ RAYNAL, 1782
PAINE, Thomas. Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal on the Affairs of North-America: In Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America are Corrected and Cleared Up. Dublin: E. Lynch, et al., 1782. Octavo, disbound; pp. 76.
First Dublin edition of Paine’s response to French historian Raynal’s 1780 attack on the American Revolution, this major work establishing the Revolution as a benchmark in human history and Paine as one of the “first modern political thinkers to universalize a single revolution.” Published the same year as the Philadelphia first edition.
When French historian Raynal's 1780 Révolution was translated into English in 1781, it triggered immediate controversy by claiming Americans "declared independence only because they objected to paying British taxes" and had rejected Britain's 1778 peace offer. Paine, enraged, promptly issued this Letter, one of "the most eloquent, tightly argued and insightful of his essays… Paine argued that the American events were revolutionary in that they had irreversibly altered both the structure of government and the popularly shared principles and perceptions according to which its power was now exercised… he was among the first modern political thinkers to universalize a single revolution" (Keane, 230-31). Paine's angry yet powerfully reasoned Letter declared the Revolution to be "the first war to be based on principle in the history of the world" (Fruchtman, 144). Having sent 50 copies to Washington, Paine "attached so much value to this document that he subsequently often introduced himself as the author of 'Common Sense and the Letter to Abbé Raynal'… This rigorous piece of writing marked a turning point in Paine's political thinking" (Vincent, Transatlantic Republican, 158-9). Preceded by the Philadelphia first edition and the London edition, both of the same year. ESTC T5831. Howes P25. Sabin 58222. Adams, American Controversy 82-66h. Early owner signature on title page.
Title page a bit toned, text generally clean. A very good copy.