THE CONNECTICUT COURANT, Hartford, June 14, 1809

• Thomas Paine's death
• Founder Father

Page 2 has a report from New York noting: "Died, on Thursday morning, the 8th inst. Thomas Paine, author of the Crisis, Rights of Man, etc. Mr. Paine had a desire to be interred in the Quakers burying ground and some days previous to his demise...He was yesterday interred at New Rochelle...I am unacquainted with his age, but he had lived long, done some good, and much harm."
Four pages, spotted foxing, good condition.

Background: This original June 14, 1809 issue of The Connecticut Courant carries immense historical and collectible significance because it captures the contemporary public reaction to the death of Thomas Paine, a founding figure whose revolutionary pamphlets Common Sense and The Crisis were instrumental in securing American independence. Reporting his death on June 8 and his burial in New Rochelle, New York, after the Society of Friends refused his request for a Quaker burial due to his controversial religious views in The Age of Reason, the issue offers a striking firsthand reflection of Paine’s complicated legacy. The correspondent's famous closing line—stating that Paine had "lived long, done some good, and much harm"—encapsulates how drastically his late-life political and religious critiques alienated an American public that once revered him. Complete four-page, early 19th-century issues of prestigious newspapers like the Courant (one of America's oldest continuously published papers) containing major Founding Era obituaries are increasingly rare on the private market, as most extant copies are preserved in institutional archives and research libraries.