Thomas Paine

Passing over, for the present, all the evils and mischiefs which monarchy has occasioned in the world, nothing can more effectually prove its uselessness in a state of civil government, than making it hereditary.

Man has no authority over posterity in matters of personal right; and, therefore, no man, or body of men, had, or can have, a right to set up hereditary government.

It ought to be so constructed as to be superior to all the accidents to which individual man is subject; and, therefore, hereditary succession, by being subject to them all, is the most irregular and imperfect of all the systems of…

We have heard the Rights of Man called a levelling system; but the only system to which the word levelling is truly applicable, is the hereditary monarchical system.

This sort of superstition may last a few years more, but it cannot long resist the awakened reason and interest of man.

It requires some talents to be a common mechanic; but to be a king requires only the animal figure of man--a sort of breathing automaton.

It is by adding the evil of hereditary succession to that of monarchy, that a permanent family interest is created, whose constant objects are dominion and revenue.

The representative system takes society and civilisation for its basis; nature, reason, and experience, for its guide.

It would be as ridiculous to attempt to fix the hereditaryship of human beauty, as of wisdom.

The hereditary system, therefore, is as repugnant to human wisdom as to human rights; and is as absurd as it is unjust.

To account for this sudden transition, it is proper to observe that there are two distinct species of popularity; the one excited by merit, and the other by resentment.

In forming a constitution, it is first necessary to consider what are the ends for which government is necessary?