The most important reform writer of the late eighteenth century. His revolutionary writings made him a hero of the American revolution. His works were plentiful, but he is most remembered for Common Sense: Addressed to the Inhabitants of America (1776), encouraging American independence from England; The Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution (1791 with a second part issued in 1792); and The Age of Reason (1793), an attack on Christianity that Paine published from France, where he fled on being alerted of his impending arrest for sedition. In France, Paine was arrested and nearly guillotined for his opposition to the execution of Louis XVI.