On the recordJanuary 1, 1791
A cannot make a will to take from B the property of B, and give it to C; yet this is the manner in which (what is called) hereditary succession by law operates.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgA cannot make a will to take from B the property of B, and give it to C; yet this is the manner in which (what is called) hereditary succession by law operates.
In "Rights of Man," Paine uses a legal analogy to illustrate the fundamental injustice of hereditary succession, where one generation attempts to dispose of the rights of another.
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Many of the facts were in themselves principles; such as the declaration of American Independence, and the treaty of alliance between France and America, which recognised the natural rights of man, and justified resistance to oppression.
The argument changes from hereditary rights to hereditary wisdom; and the question is, Who is the wisest man?
It was Government dethroning Government; and the old one, by attempting to make a new one, made a chasm.
They had a cause at stake, on which depended their freedom or their slavery.