Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England, in 1737 and became one of the most influential political writers of the revolutionary era. After emigrating to America in 1774, he published Common Sense, the enormously successful pamphlet that helped build public support for American independence. During the Revolutionary War, his series The American Crisis encouraged soldiers and civilians through some of the conflict's darkest periods.Paine later returned to Europe and became an outspoken supporter of the French Revolution. In The Rights of Man, published in two parts in 1791 and 1792, he defended representative government and condemned hereditary monarchy and aristocratic privilege. His later works included The Age of Reason and Agrarian Justice. Controversial throughout his life, Paine nevertheless helped establish many of the political principles now associated with modern democracy, civil rights, and social reform.