Rep. Lindsley Smith followed through today on her pledge to revive a measure seeking to honor revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine.

Smith, D-Fayetteville, filed a resolution that would declare Jan. 29 Thomas Paine Day in Arkansas. Jan. 29 is the birthday of Paine, author of the 1776 pamphlet “Common Sense,” which argued for independence from Britain.

Smith previously filed the resolution in 2007, but the measure failed in the House after Rep. Sid Rosenbaum, R-Little Rock, said Paine was a deist who criticized Christianity in his book “The Age of Reason.”

State Rep. Lindsley Smith still wants to honor Thomas Paine with a day named for him.

During the 2007 legislative session, Smith, D-Fayetteville, filed a bill that would have designated Jan. 29, Paine’s birthday, as Thomas Paine Day in Arkansas. The House voted down the measure, but Smith said today she will file a similar bill for the 2009 session.

“Thomas Paine will be back,” she said. “I do have a much better feeling on that. I’ve had people come up and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to vote for that next time.’”

Paine wrote the  pamphlet “Common Sense,” which argued for American independence from Britain and was published months before the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.

Smith’s  2007 bill fell five votes short of the 51 votes needed to pass in the House. The vote came after Rep. Sid Rosenbaum, R-Little Rock, said Paine was a deist who criticized Christian beliefs in his book “The Age of Reason.”