Paine was actually something of a wild card. Historians roundly characterize Paine's Common Sense as a timely and necessary admonition that raised colonial spirits when it was needed most. Contemporaries -- including Washington and Adams -- say the same, and they were certainly in the best place to know. Notably, when Paine faced money problems after the war, Washington advocated on his behalf, underscoring the vital role he had played at that critical time.

However, later in life, Paine divided with some of his former admirers over a common cause of debate: the French Revolution. Paine viewed it as a continuation on the American one, and even traveled to France to support it. In July 1794, with the Terror picking up, Paine was tossed in jail and stayed there for months. Paine would later blame Washington for not doing enough to secure his release, and even went as far as to publish a bitter tirade that Adams said he must have been "insane" to write.

Paine's later erratic behavior is well-documented; an easy source for it, though, is Chernow's Washington: A Life, around pages 713 and 744.