Bandow controversy, Paine, and the Constitution

I should note that Tom Paine engaged in similar arrangements. During the Confederation Period, George Washington, Robert Livingston, and Robert Morris paid Paine to write articles calling for much stronger central government. Paine did not reveal this financial support; we know it only from documents unearthed later from the papers of the other parties in the deal. My own view, based on a close analysis of his extant writings, suggests that Paine supported greater centralization at that time, but in some cases his writing was so over the top that I suspect the money may have had some effect.