Thomas Paine, Penn Graduate
The July 4, 1780 Commencement ceremony was a grand public event in the history of the reconstituted “University of the State of Pennsylvania.” It was attended by members of the Continental Congress, State Assembly and Courts as well as the French ambassador. Paine, a hero to the new leaders, was one of the recipients of an honorary M.A. If he gave remarks at the ceremony, they do not survive. Also featured on the occasion was a student debate on the question, “Is it lawful to enslave the Africans, with their Posterity?”
Paine seems to have been happy to make public use of his honorary degree: he calls himself “Thomas Paine M.A.” on the title page of his critique of the Abbé Raynal’s point of view on the Revolution.[1] One of Paine’s first calls for an American copyright system also appears here.[2]
Paine claimed to be defending Raynal’s reputation against the impression created by an unauthorized English translation (printed as Révolution de l'Amérique in 1781). Paine also defends the patriots’ alliance with the French, something that Raynal had also been critical of. ↑
p.. iii, footnote, “*The state of literature in America must one day become a subject of legislative consideration.” ↑