Character guide

Edmund Burke

major

Also known as Burke, Mr. Burke

Burke arrives in Paine's pages as a man of towering reputation turned pamphleteer, pouring what Paine calls the copious fury of rancour and prejudice onto the French nation and its National Assembly. He once insisted no revolution could ever happen in France; now that it has, he condemns it, and Paine catches him denying that the English people possess any right to choose their governors or cashier them for misconduct. That paradox — a defender of liberty abroad turned scourge of it at home — is the provocation the entire book is built to dismantle.

Thomas Paine

major

Also known as Paine, Mr. Paine

Paine writes as a man who once counted Burke a friend to mankind and now must publicly break with him, dedicating his treatise to Washington and his second part to Lafayette. His politics grow straight from his early Quakerism: if every soul is a child of God, then rank and privilege collapse into universal brotherhood, and government shrinks to a mere association for defending rights the individual cannot defend alone. He and Lafayette differ only on timing — Paine wants principles hurried, not lingered — and that impatience drives the book's urgency.

William Pitt

supporting

Also known as Pitt, Mr. Pitt

Pitt hovers over the argument as the living embodiment of the government Paine wants reduced to a limited association for defending individual rights. Where the French Declaration proclaims that sovereignty resides essentially in the nation, Pitt's Britain rests on authority not expressly derived from it — the very usurpation Paine is writing to expose. His presence sharpens the stakes: this is not abstract philosophy but a direct challenge to the men currently governing England.

Marquis de La Fayette

supporting

Also known as M. de la Fayette, de la Fayette, Lafayette

Lafayette is Paine's friend of nearly fifteen years, tested in difficult situations in America and consulted across Europe, and the man to whom Paine dedicates his second part. Their only disagreement is pace: Lafayette supposes reform accomplishable in fourteen or fifteen years, Paine believes mankind ripe in far less. Paine's warning that it is as injurious to let good principles linger as to push them too fast frames Lafayette as the cautious ally — sincere, esteemed, and perhaps too easily deceived by courtly manners.

Charles Calonne

minor

Also known as M. Calonne, Calonne

French finance minister under Louis XVI, blamed for financial crisis.

George Washington

minor

Also known as General Washington, Washington

American general and first president, praised by Paine.

William the Conqueror

minor

Also known as William, the Conqueror

Norman king of England, cited as an example of conquest-based rule.

Count de Broglie

minor

Also known as Broglio, Count

French military commander during the early Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin

minor

Also known as Franklin, Dr. Franklin

American inventor and diplomat, admired by Paine.

Charles James Fox

minor

Also known as Fox, Mr. Fox

British Whig politician who supported the French Revolution.

George Chalmers

minor

Also known as Mr. George Chalmers, Mr. Chalmers, George

British writer and critic of Paine, author of a hostile biography.

George I

minor

Also known as George the First, George

First Hanoverian king of England, cited in debates on succession.

Abbé Sieyès

minor

Also known as the Abbé Sieyès, Sieyès

French revolutionary clergyman and author of political pamphlets.

Thomas Rickman

minor

Also known as Rickman, Thomas "Clio" Rickman

Friend and publisher of Paine, mentioned in endnotes.

Louis XVI

minor

Also known as Louis XVI

King of France during the Revolution, executed in 1793.

King John

minor

Also known as The King, King John

English king who signed Magna Carta, cited in constitutional debates.

Richard Price

minor

Also known as Dr. Price

Welsh moral philosopher and supporter of the French Revolution.

Jean Sylvain Bailly

minor

Also known as M. Bailly

First mayor of Paris during the French Revolution.

Henry Laurens

minor

Also known as Colonel Lawrens

American statesman and diplomat, mentioned in passing.

Jacques Necker

minor

Also known as M. Neckar

French finance minister dismissed by Louis XVI, sparking revolution.

Wat Tyler

minor

Also known as Tyler

Leader of the Peasants' Revolt in England, mentioned as a rebel.

Samuel Johnson

minor

Also known as Johnson, Dr. Johnson

English writer and lexicographer, quoted by Burke.

Count Vergennes

minor

Also known as Count Vergennes

French foreign minister under Louis XVI, involved in American aid.

Rev. William Knowle

minor

Also known as William

English clergyman and writer, cited by Paine.

Count d'Artois

minor

Also known as The Count D’Artois, Count D’Artois

French prince, later King Charles X, opposed the Revolution.

Montesquieu

minor

French philosopher whose ideas on government influenced Paine.

Voltaire

minor

French Enlightenment writer, praised for his defense of liberty.

James II

minor

Also known as James

Deposed Stuart king of England, cited in debates on monarchy.

Charles I

minor

Also known as Charles

Executed Stuart king of England, referenced in historical arguments.

John Sinclair

minor

Also known as Sir John Sinclair, John

British agriculturalist and politician, cited by Paine.

Nathanael Greene

minor

Also known as General Greene

American general in the Revolutionary War, praised by Paine.

John Horne Tooke

minor

Also known as Mr. Horne Tooke

English radical politician and friend of Paine.

Lord George Gordon

minor

Also known as George

British politician and anti-Catholic riot instigator.

Joseph Foulon

minor

Also known as Foulon

French official lynched by a Parisian mob in 1789.

William of Normandy

minor

Also known as William

Norman conqueror of England, cited in historical arguments.

Richard II

minor

Also known as Richard

English king deposed by Henry IV, cited in historical examples.