Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine went to France after the American Revolution to join the French Revolution. He wrote The Age of Reason while in prison there. This pamphlet was critical of organized religion. Paine along with other American founders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison liked to apply reason to religion instead of revelation. This was part of the greater Age of Enlightenment movement that dated back to about the early 17th century. Paine died at the age of 72, at 59 Grove Street in Greenwich Village, New York City, on the morning of June 8, 1809.