Thomas Paine Studies Minor

The Departments of English, History, Philosophy, and Political Science offer a 15-credit, interdisciplinary minor in Thomas Paine Studies. Students who minor in Thomas Paine Studies will:

• Understand the political ideas originated and developed by Paine.
• Connect Paine’s political ideas to the philosophical, historical, and literary context of the early American republic and the transatlantic circulation of ideas in the eighteenth century.
• Situate Paine within American political history and the American political tradition.
• Apply Thomas Paine’s ideas to the political problems and issues of contemporary American and global society.
• Develop their writing skills across disciplines
• Improve their critical and problem solving skills by applying them to Paine’s writings.