Dedication
Paine strongly believed in the principles of the American Revolution and is considered a founding father of America. Here he dedicated Rights of Man to George Washington and wrote to him, “I present you a small treatise in defense of those principles of freedom which your exemplary virtue hath so eminently contributed to establish. That the Rights of Man may become as universal as your benevolence can wish.” Paine valued the freedoms that he and George Washington fought for and set the tone for the book with his dedication. Rights of Man was consistent with Paine's 1775 Common Sense, a call for American independence, which had the largest circulation of any published work in American history in proportion to the population.