After these a race of conquerors arose, whose government, like that of William the Conqueror, was founded in power, and the sword assumed the name of a sceptre.
Thomas Paine: “After these a race of conquerors arose, whose government, like that of William the Conqueror, was founded in power, and…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine describes the rise of governments founded on conquest and military power, contrasting them with earlier forms.
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It is a great standing which they have now universally obtained; and we may hereafter hope to see revolutions, or changes in governments, produced with the same quiet operation by which any measure, determinable by reason and discussion…
The horrid scene that is now acting by the English government in the East-Indies, is fit only to be told of Goths and Vandals, who, destitute of principle, robbed and tortured the world they were incapable of enjoying.
Reason and discussion, persuasion and conviction, become the weapons in the contest, and it is only when those are attempted to be suppressed that recourse is had to violence.
The present age will hereafter merit to be called the Age of Reason, and the present generation will appear to the future as the Adam of a new world.