Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event.
Paine defends the actions of the American revolutionaries, portraying their struggle as a collective effort for the common good rather than mere vengeance.
Share
More from Thomas Paine
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…
Discussion and the general will arbitrates the question, and to this, private opinion yields with a good grace, and order is preserved uninterrupted.
As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of national Gods.
Where these can have the opportunity of acting, opposition dies with fear, or crumbles away by conviction.