Thomas Paine: “Arms they had none, nor scarcely anyone who knew the use of them; but desperate resolution, when every hope is at stake…”

They had a cause at stake, on which depended their freedom or their slavery.

Because aristocracy has a tendency to deteriorate the human species.

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.

He writes neither in the character of a Frenchman nor an Englishman, but in the fawning character of that creature known in all countries, and a friend to none--a courtier.