Thomas Earle was born in Leicester, Massachusetts in 1796, the son of Patience (Buffum) and Pliny Earle I. He was educated at Leicester academy. In 1817 he moved to Philadelphia, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits for a few years, but subsequently studied law and practiced his profession. He became distinguished also as a journalist, editing in succession the Columbian Observer, Standard, Pennsylvanian, Pennsylvania Freeman, and Mechanics' Free Press and Reform Advocate. In 1837 he took an active part in calling the Constitutional convention of Pennsylvania, of which he was a prominent member, and it is supposed that he made the original draft of the new constitution. He lost his popularity with the Democratic Party by advocating the extension of the right of suffrage to African Americans.
