Because the idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet laureate.
Arguing against hereditary rule, Paine uses a series of absurd comparisons to highlight the illogical nature of inherited legislative power.
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The animosity of the English nation, it is very well remembered, ran high; and, had the true principles of Liberty been as well understood then as they now promise to be, it is probable the Nation would not have patiently submitted to so…
The aristocracy has screened itself too much, and this serves to restore a part of the lost equilibrium.
They had a cause at stake, on which depended their freedom or their slavery.