On the recordJanuary 1, 1776
Had America been conquered, she might have been parcelled out in grants to the favorites at court, but no share of it would have fallen to you.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgThomas Paine: “Had America been conquered, she might have been parcelled out in grants to the favorites at court, but no share of it…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine argues that if America were conquered, its spoils would benefit only the elite, not the ordinary British citizens who bore the cost of war.
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Jan 1, 1791
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.
Jan 1, 1791
Man cannot, properly speaking, make circumstances for his purpose, but he always has it in his power to improve them when they occur, and this was the case in France.
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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.
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The meaning, then, good people, of all this, is: That government is governed by no principle whatever; that it can make evil good, or good evil, just as it pleases.