Thomas Paine
The Public Record
Thomas Paine was an English-born American Founding Father, inventor, political philosopher, and statesman. His pamphlets Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783) framed the Patriot argument for independence from Great Britain at the outset of the American Revolution. Paine advanced Enlightenment-era arguments for human rights that shaped revolutionary discourse on both sides of the Atlantic.
Jan 1, 1791
It is not, and from its nature cannot be, the property of any particular man or family, but of the whole community, at whose expense it is supported; and though by force and contrivance it has been usurped into an inheritance, the…
Jan 1, 1791
Every citizen is a member of the Sovereignty, and, as such, can acknowledge no personal subjection; and his obedience can be only to the laws.
Jan 1, 1791
The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act: a general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.
Jan 1, 1791
As it is to the advantage of society that the whole of its faculties should be employed, the construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails…
Jan 1, 1791
Mankind, as it appears to me, are always ripe enough to understand their true interest, provided it be presented clearly to their understanding, and that in a manner not to create suspicion by anything like self-design, nor offend by…
Jan 1, 1791
Principles must stand on their own merits, and if they are good they certainly will.
Jan 1, 1791
To suppose that any government can be a party in a compact with the whole people, is to suppose it to have existence before it can have a right to exist.