Richard Cuneo speaks at the History Café on Thomas Paine
BCHS Trustee Richard Cuneo is well known as captain-lieutenant of John Doughty's Artillery, a Revolutionary War re-enactment unit. He is also past president of the Thomas Paine National Historical Association. Speaking on Thomas Paine's
Common Sense at yesterday's History Café, he told the audience, "The primary result of this pamphlet was the Declaration of Independence." He proved by an original Philadelphia newspaper that this inflammatory work was first published in Philadelphia on January 9, 1776, and not January 10th as has been erroneously reported for many years. Rich Cuneo also explained a controversy between Thomas Paine and his original publisher, Robert Bell, played out in the newspapers, whereby the author tried to donate his portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book to purchase mittens for Continental soldiers. Despite out-selling the Bible in 1776, the publisher claimed there was no profit from the printing. The scandal further drove sales (as it always does).
The speaker showed his audience a 1776 London edition of Loyalist James Chalmers'
Plain Truth, written as a Royalist rebuttal. The author's uncle, George Chalmers, wrote a derogatory biography of Thomas Paine, which provided the basis for many subsequent unfavorable depictions of the Revolutionary pamphleteer. Cuneo reviewed other early biographies of Thomas Paine and discussed the origins of such scandalous allegations as his drunkenness, slovenly dress, atheism and communism.
Richard Cuneo noted that Thomas Paine served as an aide-de-camp to General Greene. He thus was on the general staff when the army retreated from Fort Lee over New Bridge.
