Essays by Thomas Paine (black books to read .TXT) ๐
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Thomas Paine was an American political commentator and activist in the latter part of the eighteenth century. His writing covered a wide range of subjects, but were centered on his core beliefs of republicanism and the inherent rights of people. An early pamphlet of his, โCommon Sense,โ was written soon after he arrived in America from Great Britain; with its focus on the ills of colonialism and the Kingโs veering between rational debate and righteous outrage, it has been cited as one of the major catalysts for the American Revolution. Later work attempted to correct the mistakes he perceived in post-revolution French governmentโwritten from experience after his election to the French National Conventionโand even suggested a costed plan for a universal basic income funded by an inheritance tax.
Collected here are his essays and pamphlets written between 1776 and 1797, including the aforementioned โCommon Senseโ and other influential works like โThe Republican Proclamationโ and the โDeclaration of Rights.โ
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- Author: Thomas Paine
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By Thomas Paine.
Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint Common Sense Introduction Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs Of the Present Ability of America: With Some Miscellaneous Reflections Appendix The Republican Proclamation Anti-Monarchal Essay Royalty Declaration of Rights Dissertation on First Principles of Government The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance Agrarian Justice Editorโs Introduction Authorโs Inscription Authorโs English Preface Agrarian Justice Means by Which the Fund Is to Be Created Means for Carrying the Proposed Plan Into Execution, and to Render It at the Same Time Conducive to the Public Interest Endnotes Colophon Uncopyright ImprintThis ebook is the product of many hours of hard work by volunteers for Standard Ebooks, and builds on the hard work of other literature lovers made possible by the public domain.
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Common Sense IntroductionPerhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.
As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling the right of it in question (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his own right, to support the Parliament in what he calls theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either.
In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided everything which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the worthy, need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious, or unfriendly, will cease of themselves unless too much pains are bestowed upon their conversion.
The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the concern of every man to whom nature hath given the power of feeling; of which class, regardless of party censure, is
The Author
P.S. The publication of this new edition hath been delayed, with a view of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any attempt to refute the Doctrine of Independence. As no answer hath yet appeared, it is now presumed that none will, the time needful for getting such a performance ready for the public being considerably past.
Who the author of this production is, is wholly unnecessary to the public, as the object for attention is the doctrine itself, not the man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, that he is unconnected with any party, and under no sort of influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle.
Philadelphia, February 14, 1776
Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English ConstitutionSome writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.
Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.
In order
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