But this would be a practice too debasing for a sovereign people to stoop to, and too profligate not to be discountenanced.
Thomas Paine: “But this would be a practice too debasing for a sovereign people to stoop to, and too profligate not to be…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine asserts that deceptive practices are beneath the dignity of a sovereign people and should be rejected.
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As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of national Gods.
I have no idea, considering the reforms which are now passing and spreading throughout Europe, that England will permit herself to be the last; and where the occasion and the opportunity quietly offer, it is better than to wait for a…
Why may we not suppose, that the great Father of all is pleased with variety of devotion; and that the greatest offence we can act, is that by which we seek to torment and render each other miserable?
When men unite in agreeing that a thing is good, could it be obtained, such for instance as relief from a burden of taxes and the extinction of corruption, the object is more than half accomplished.