Jan 1, 1791
When this disposition expires, what is supposed to be the credit of Government expires with it.
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.
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Jan 1, 1791
The instance of France under the former Government shows that it is impossible to compel the payment of taxes by force, when a whole nation is determined to take its stand upon that ground.
Jan 1, 1791
The devotees and penitent debauchees, extortioners and misers of former days, to ensure themselves a better world than that they were about to leave, had bequeathed immense property in trust to the priesthood for pious uses; and the…
Jan 1, 1791
From the Revolutions of America and France, and the symptoms that have appeared in other countries, it is evident that the opinion of the world is changing with respect to systems of Government, and that revolutions are not within the…
Jan 1, 1791
It is better that the whole argument should come out than to seek to stifle it.
Jan 1, 1791
I do not believe that monarchy and aristocracy will continue seven years longer in any of the enlightened countries in Europe.
Jan 1, 1791
When it becomes necessary to do anything, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it.
Jan 1, 1791
On the contrary, Government, in a well-constituted republic, requires no belief from man beyond what his reason can give.
Jan 1, 1791
The moving power in this species of Government is, of necessity, Corruption.
Jan 1, 1791
However imperfect election and representation may be in mixed Governments, they still give exercise to a greater portion of reason than is convenient to the hereditary Part; and therefore it becomes necessary to buy the reason up.
Jan 1, 1791
When it is laid down as a maxim, that a King can do no wrong, it places him in a state of similar security with that of idiots and persons insane, and responsibility is out of the question with respect to himself.
Jan 1, 1791
Every aristocratical family has an appendage of family beggars hanging round it, which in a few ages, or a few generations, are shook off, and console themselves with telling their tale in almshouses, workhouses, and prisons.