The American Enlightenment: Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison

America’s leading Enlightenment thinkers, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were key figures in bringing about the American Revolution and the birth of the American Republic. In the course of so doing, they defended the principles of individual liberty, human equality, and religious tolerance. Grounded in the Enlightenment tradition, they subscribed to the doctrine of Natural Law, and also believed that people have certain inalienable, natural rights. While all three of them defended religious freedom and religious tolerance—alongside freedoms of speech, press, and assembly—Paine nonetheless criticized Christianity relentlessly in a work in which he subjected the Bible to mockery, founding his critique on an appeal to reason.