The View Of Human Nature : Thomas Paine And Edmund Burke

He wrote this in order to explain and seemingly demand American’s rights and what he thought they all wanted and what would be most fair to all involved. As mentioned above religion seems to be the center of most controversy, he too had his opinions and it mostly involved where church belonged and most importantly, where it did not belong. Paine spoke in a prejudice tone but proposed this to be an unbiased composition. “The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited, by pains and penalties every discussion upon established creeds and upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before the world” (654). He felt that if the government shared their two sense that it would shake up the whole country. His argument was claiming that it was unfair to the people to have a government share in one faith. This after all, was a new world; a world full of equality and everyone should have their own right to believe. Thomas Paine was one of the only people to share his wisdom and speak for the people and made the most points in the right direction, which is fairness. He truly supported whatever the American dream was perceived as at that

In the book by Thomas Paine called Common Sense, mostly covers the subject of American Independence. In the beginning of his argument, paine reflects on government and religion. According to Paine’s point of view, society is everything to help the people join together to accomplish a constructive good. He believes that government is only purpose is to protect the people from themselves.Government has its start with the bad of man and is therefore a necessary evil at best. He says that government's main purpose should be to protect our freedom and our rights, paine also believes that a government should be judged merely to extent to which it manage the target

Government is a necessary evil because a government is needed to regulate a society and “protect life, liberty, and property”. He proposes the American Colonies are in need of a new government. He gives suggestions on how government officials should be elected. He also suggests that a “Continental Charter” be written at a Constitution Conference”. The type of government he proposed was a republican government. Paine suggests that only representation is crucial to “the strength of

The identity of a society is verified through the rights which are given to the citizens. The rights of man have been at many different standards throughout time. Often being very one sided, and at times striving for a median between the two sides. In Edmund Burke's essay Reflections on the Revolution in France Burke states that a king is in one sense a servant but in everyday situations they are above every individual. All persons under him owe him a legal agreement to serve his hopes. This essay will demonstrate why Thomas Paine's essay The Rights of Man is more convincing than Edmund Burke's through examination of a heredity government, the nature of rights and the uselessness of the monarchy.

He says that the “government is just” and that “there is nothing to engender riots and tumults”. It is very obvious that these things are not true in regard to our current government. Our current government is not just, as it is riddled with corruption and systemic oppression of minorities. In America today, only a small portion of the people feel protected by the government. It is also untrue that there is nothing that the government does which incites riots. We can see examples of riots and protests against the United States government occurring every day. Currently there are protests against racism in the police force, protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and protests such as the Women’s March against our new president. This shows that Paine’s description of a fair and just government does not hold true

Thomas Paine believed that the selection of Kings was unnatural because people are born into being Kings and nothing assures that the person will be a good leader. Just because your father was a good leader does not mean that you will be one. Paine states that nature would disapprove it, and that we should not give mankind “an ass for a lion”1. He says that when we were created we were all created equal. The British had so much control no one could do anything about it. They could not overcome the government and it made the colonists feel useless. This is exactly why Paine criticized the monarchial government because they were indeed doing everything unfairly and doing it only to benefit themselves.

The second contrasting point is that Paine believed in the total reform of society and Burke believed that things were fine just the way they were. Paine thought that if people wanted something to change, they could get it done. He wrote in his book Rights of Man that “revolutions were necessary to destroy this "barbarous system" in order to create the conditions for peace, commerce, lower taxes, and the "enjoyment of abundance.” He was referring to the American and French revolutions to get rid of the monarchy hold on them. Burke believed that wisdom of the past generations should rule current generations. He believed that everything set up by the past should not be reckoned with. He thought that laws, religious commandments, scriptures, and general ways of living were perfect just the way they were. Paine attacked this theory once again in his book Rights of Man by stating, “Governing from dead generations is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies.” Paine continuously attacked everything that Burke supported. These two men disliked each other very much. They continued to spread their theories though.

Thomas Paine retorts in an excerpt from "Rights of Man" with an argument that can be boiled down to this line: “It is the living, and not the dead, that are to be accommodated.” He argues that the current generation needs to be in control of their society, and not under the control of a society formed by the past generation, most of which is dead. He says, “The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave, is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies. Man has no property in any man; neither has any generation a property in the generations which are to follow.” He attacks Burke’s motive, saying Burke never believed there would even be a revolution because the French lacked the spirit and the fortitude, “but now that there is one, he seeks an escape by condemning it.”

1. The problems that Thomas Paine sees with the British monarchy involve its straying from ideal government, the unjust placement of one individual above all others, and its hereditary aspect. The problems that Thomas Paine sees with King George III in particular are his personal transgressions against liberty. Thomas Paine, firstly views government as “but a necessary evil” (15), and therefore it should be both as limited as possible and also tied to the more positive society. The ideal form of government, thus according to Paine, is a simple republic where the elected are forced to be accountable to their electors (16). The British monarchy fails in all accounts; not only does the prescence of a monarchy at all eliminate the accountability of a republic, but the complicatedness of the British monarchy system makes it worse in this aspect than even other monarchies. Although absolute monarchies are horrid in that they give no power to the people, they are still simpler than the British monarchy; this makes issues much more difficult to handle in the British monarchy (17). The other problems that Paine has with the British monarchy apply to monarchies at large. Paine argues that the placement of one person above all others is an unnatural divide; there is no explanation for the division of people into “KINGS and SUBJECTS” (22) such as there are in other forms of division that humans live with. If it does not make sense to place one individual above all others, then such should most certainly not be law; therefore, from this logic, monarchy, which is entirely based on the principle of placing one person (and their relatives) above all others, is an invalid and unnatural form of government. Of course, some people could, arguably, have earned the admiration and respect of their peers through important action, and thus be deserving of a leadership position. In a republic, by listening to their electors, the elected earn their right to lead. However, the hereditary monarchy removes this earning of the right to lead, and Paine takes issue with that. There is no guarantee that the descendants of a good leader will also be good leaders, and therefore the government of a country should never be left to heredity (29).

Thomas Paine, in his renowned work Common Sense, unambiguously uses pathos to call the founding fathers, and the American colonies as a whole, to action against the oppression of the British government. By using explicit figurative language, passionate diction, and the persistent parallel structure used to create correlation between citizen and governing powers, Paine masterfully manipulates the rhetorical appeals and devices in this piece in order to inspire action.

In the work of Thomas Paine, "Common Sense" Paine mentions throughout of the working for a positive government with the idea of equality. Thomas Paine writes different excerpt that give theories and idea with the goal of implementing those ideas into a government that may be just and fair. Paine reflects on the English constitution specifically the crown. Paine also provide an insight to having a higher power to run a government. Paine also criticizes the idea of monarchy and hereditary succession. Complications would ultimately arise through his ideas and theories due to the differences in religions.

Paine initially expounded on the connection between society and government and how a government's viability could be judged just on its capacity to ensure the freedom and property of its citizens. He contended that the legislature laid out in the English constitution neglected this.

John Locke and Edmund Burke were two champions for the theory of change in the world of political philosophy during the seventeenth century. Locke is largely known for pushing liberalism in influencing the American and French political revolution period while Burk is known for taking a more placid approach to promoting modern conservatism. Set out in different time period, both thinkers focus on the purpose of the government, its structure and functions, laws of nature and the characteristics of man in and out of nature as a state. It is quite common to misunderstand and misinterpret the aspect of the revolutionary fight as a collective calling for everyone. Not everyone was an intransigent fighter for the revolution, a fact that has often clouded our current notions and ideals in identifying the true assessment of the mind state of the political period in late 18th century. Understanding this, it becomes easier to vision the element of division in terms of personal perspective and mindset, with various powers of thoughts colliding with each other. As such, Locke and Burke represent a political contentious period where these two philosophers who were not necessarily on polar opposites stand strong in championing their beliefs and remain worth contenders.

He argues that a democratic system based on continual elections and rights of the people protected by a written constitution would be more beneficial to society. To strengthen the concept of democracy, Paine speaks of a hypothetical society brought up in an isolated part of the world, away from other inhabitants. This supposed society represented the first people. Thomas Paine claims that some of its people will have many accomplishments other will not; thus through hunger, disease, misfortune and death it is inevitable that the people will set up some form of government that “…will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of the governed” (Thomas Paine, Common Sense). This statement reassures his beliefs towards democracy while showing how pointless English rule is to society. Thomas Paine is attempting to promote American independence with this document by explaining the benefits of democracy, in doing so he is demeaning the English government. Paine emphasizes the prejudices the English may have had by stating, “And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose

Burke also argued against natural rights and explained a custom and practice that develops relation between the government and people. Paine believed in equality and criticised the monarch being chosen by the hereditary succession and by the choice of the people. He wanted the British Constitution to be written because he saw it as not right, and it was brought in during the Glorious Revolution in 1688.