A nation is not a body, the figure of which is to be represented by the human body; but is like a body contained within a circle, having a common center, in which every radius meets; and that center is formed by representation.
In "Rights of Man," Paine uses a geometric metaphor to explain how representation forms the unifying core of a nation.
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He must now show that every one in the line of hereditary succession was a Solomon, or his title is not good to be a king.
It has nothing to dread from attacks; truth has given it an establishment, and time will record it with a name as lasting as his own.