Some 250 years after Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” helped inspire the 13 colonies to declare independence, supporters are pressing for a Thomas Paine memorial in Washington, D.C. The Paine memorial, authorized by a 2022 law, is awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior, a process supporters say could finally bring long-sought federal recognition to the District.
The proposal would move through a step involving endorsement by the Interior Department before it returns to Congress for final enactment. In September 2024, the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission recommended the memorial’s placement on the National Mall, and Interior officials would need to endorse that plan for it to proceed further. If approved, the memorial would have a 2030 deadline for completion.
When asked about timing for a decision, a spokesperson for the Interior Department declined comment. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a sponsor of the bill backing the memorial, said Paine has long been “underrecognized and overlooked” and that Paine was “a critical and singular voice.”
Raskin’s comments come as Saturday marks the 250th anniversary of the publication of “Common Sense,” one of the major milestones in a yearlong commemoration that also includes the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Supporters have waited for decades for a memorial in Washington, and federal memorials—while initiated by Congress—are usually built through private donations, leaving fundraising as a recurring challenge.
A bipartisan effort for a Paine memorial was signed into law in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush, but the project was delayed, failed to attract adequate funding, and was “essentially forgotten by the mid-2000s,” according to the report. The fate of the current legislation depends not only on financial support but also on President Donald Trump’s Interior secretary, Doug Burgum.
The memorial’s possible placement also revives a contentious history. Federal honors for Paine would have been nearly impossible earlier in the 20th century, supporters and scholars have noted, because although Paine became widely known for “Common Sense,” the later part of his life was also defined by “The Age of Reason,” a fierce attack on organized religion published in installments starting in 1794. Paine believed in God and a divinely created universe but accepted no single faith, scorning what he described as the Bible’s “paltry stories” and saying Christianity was “too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice.”
By the time of Paine’s death in New York in 1809, he was estranged from friends and many surviving founders, and only a handful of mourners attended his funeral. His legacy has since been championed across political and ideological lines, while facing resistance elsewhere, including at times from prominent public officials. In 1955, Walter H. Reynolds, mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, rejected a proposed Paine statue and said Paine “was and remains so controversial a character.”
Scholars say attitudes toward Paine shifted as political alignments changed. Harvey J. Kaye, author of “Thomas Paine and the Promise of America,” cited Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 as a turning point, saying Reagan alarmed some Republicans but also pleased Paine admirers by quoting Paine’s call to action—“We have it in our power to begin the world over again”—during an acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. Kaye also said, “Reagan opened the door,” noting that when Congress approved a memorial in 1992, supporters ranged from Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts to Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina.
Paine’s story, supporters say, is closely tied to the revolutionary era and to the idea of political independence that his writing popularized. The report describes Paine as a self-educated immigrant from Britain who departed for the colonies with little money but with hopes for a better life. It says he was born Thomas Pain in Thetford in 1737, about 90 miles outside of London, and later added the “e” to his last name after arriving in America. It also describes his early movement between jobs before he sailed to the New World in 1774 and later contributed to The Pennsylvania Magazine in Philadelphia.
The report credits “Common Sense” with helping shift public opinion from opposing British aggression to calling for a full break with Britain. It says the pamphlet was released on Jan. 10, 1776, credited to “an Englishman,” and later expanded to 47 pages. It also includes a quote attributed to Paine—“Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived”—and recounts how his accessible style helped make the arguments widely circulated, shared, and read aloud.
Even now, Paine’s supporters say, his lines continue to be invoked by people across the political spectrum. Historian Eric Foner, the report says, would write that Paine’s appeal lasted through “his impatience with the past, his critical stance toward existing institutions, his belief that men can shape their own destiny.” The report also says Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts began a 2025 year-end report on the federal judiciary by citing the anniversary of “Common Sense,” praising Paine for “shunning legalese,” and saying “government’s purpose is to serve the people.”
The report also points to modern protests that have adopted passages from “Common Sense,” including the nationwide “No Kings” rallies against Trump’s policies, and it notes that a sign in Boston said, “No King! No Tyranny! It’s Common Sense.” Supporters of the memorial say the project’s next step—what the Interior Department decides and when—will determine whether Paine’s federal tribute reaches its next stage toward construction.