Thomas Paine And The Burial System

Paine then talks about the concepts of monarchy and hereditary succession and how Israel once did not have a king but the ancient Jewish people had wanted one to keep the order and the peace among them. Paine says when the Jews decided they wanted a king and God was infuriated, pages from the bible were displayed in this

Thomas Paine’s style and his call to action appeals to the common man. Paine says this as he is calling to action the ordinary man to participate in the Revolution, “ I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have nobly stood, and yet are determined to stand the matter out : I call not upon a few , but upon all : not this state or that state , but on every state : up and help us ; lay your shoulders to the wheel ; better have too much force than too little , when so great an object is at stake . “ paragraph 4 , The American Crisis Number One . Thomas Paine presents the idea of a revolution as an extensive issue that any man can help with no matter with what they align themselves with . Paine’s style has an urgent sense of heroism that comes across in an almost pleading manner that calls anyone to action for the fear of doing to little and facing the repercussions a loss could mean .

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.

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).

Religion played a crucial role in Paine's argument. He knew that the most of colonists had some sort of religion that he can use as a basis for his argument. One of the points that he made was that a “distinction … of men into Kings and Subjects,” is not from god, it is from the “heathens,” (Paine, 72). Paine made sure to tell the readers that this interpretation is directly from the Bible so if anyone wanted to check for themselves they can. He supported many of the things he said from the Bible so that people would not question it. He used stories of how Israel wanted a king even though god himself did not want one to voice his opposition of the leadership of monarchy. The Bible was a major source that Paine used in order to unify the people under one cause. Before this essay people did not know who to side with, the new colonies or the monarchy, who they have who they have been loyal to until this point. Now Common Sense gives them a reason to support the

Thomas Paine expresses his feelings toward the English constitution and its flaws specifically the crown. According to Paine, "because the

Thesis: Paine’s ideas were mainly about wanting to change the form of government to republicanism

Boston King and Joseph Brant disagree with the ideas expressed by Paine and the Adamses to a large extent. In Thomas Paine’s document, he expresses his distaste for the current leadership system, where the top positions are simply assigned to those who are lucky enough to be born into royalty. Paine suggests that it would be most beneficial for colonists to be governed by representatives and not by merely one king, who is also susceptible to tyranny, evil and making mistakes, just as all other men.

Thomas Paine states his ideas for the government in his Common Sense written in 1776. Paine states that America should not have a king. The first king might be great but then ruling by divine right usually ends up with the people having terrible kings. Once a monarch is put into place it becomes extremely hard to remove. Today in America we still do not have kings which is very good for America. The democracy system that we have in place gives Americans many rights and overall good country to live in unlike 3rd world countries. Paine brings up the point that most subjects under a king do not revolt do to fear and superstition. This made me wonder why they would fear. The subjects would outnumber the royalty and their guards if they would all stand together.

How can people be held responsible when they are the ones making the rules? When a country is ruled by a monarchy there are many opportunities for people to become immoral. They have the opportunity to lie, cheat, and get away with it. It is ironic that the people of the late middle ages are responsible for a whole country when they cannot even be held responsible for their own actions. William Shakespeare uses his play, Hamlet, to point out flaws in the rules of this time period. He points out how they use deception to cheat the system, misogyny to stay in control, and instability to show how they are unable to be rulers.

Paine was not a fan of monarchical government and in “Common Sense” he brings up many good points and continues to bash the belief as a whole. He said many things that seemed to punch holes in the idea of it. Thomas Paine contemplated the biblical origin of monarchy and concluded that it was begun in sinfulness. Paine made it clear that the scriptural evidence says that God stands against monarchy. He also brought up the fact that the recent kings of England have not been good, which he said should show that the current line of kings does not show legitimate power. He claimed that monarchy has only lead to bad governance and bloodshed. He wondered and proposed why people were content being ruled by someone that was not voted into ruling by the majority. How could they know that the king was qualified? Why would they follow a ruler who was just a child when there are people who are more suitable and qualified to rule. Kings were supposed to rule for the greater good of the commoners. But how

Paine believes that monarchies in general are “exceedingly ridiculous” as it is full of hypocrisies, and forces one to infer many impossible superiorities. For example, a king is isolated from the world, living a life very different from the average citizen, yet his job requires that he thoroughly understand what is best for these average citizens in order to most acceptably govern and judge them. Paine believes that monarchies are justifiable neither by the laws of nature, nor by the laws of God.To further his point about the ridiculousness of kings, Paine says that “...it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion…” and wars. Hereditary succession is seen as utterly unjust, as “...all men being originally equals, no one by birth

Thomas Paine started his writings with motivation and truth. His writings helped shape many of the ideas that marked the age of the revolution. He made sure to tell the people he knows what they're are going through and the reality of things. “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain, too cheap, we esteem too lightly”. Here he is saying he knows this won't be easy but they must gain confidence. He is motivating and pushing his followers to not

“The King can do no wrong (Chang, 2007).” Arguably, ancient governments ruled by royalty can be

In the second section, Of Monarchy and Hereditary Secession Paine refers to biblical evidence that monarchy is sinful and serving a King is like worshiping a false idol. He brings this up because many saw a divine King like God and were afraid that if they did not follow the king’s orders they were not following Gods orders. Since all mean are equal he states that no individual and their family should own the thrown of a nation forever. Paine also adds that the very first king was chosen so all kings after should be chosen by election.