preview

How Did Thomas Paine Give The Rights Of Man Essay

Decent Essays

First of all, the poem starts with reducing London to chartered streets and rivers. The Dictionary of World History defines a charter as ‘a legal document from a ruler or government, conferring rights’ , this suggests that a charter is something positive something that gives rights. However, Thomas Paine argues in his Rights of Man that this was not the case, and rather than giving rights a charter took rights away . Thompson supports this statement and explains that A charter (…) is simultaneously a denial of liberties to others. A charter is something given or ceded; it is bestowed upon some group by some authority; it is not claimed as of right. And the liberties (or privileges) granted to this guild, company, corporation or even nation

Get Access