Common Sense, the Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of ThomasPaine - Couverture souple

Paine, Thomas

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0451528891 ISBN 13 : 9780451528896

Editeur : Signet, 2003

Synopsis

Book by Paine Thomas

A propos du livre

Extrait :

Of the Origin and Design of Government in General. With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution

Some 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 is 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 calamities are 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.

Présentation de l'éditeur :

A volume of Thomas Paine's most essential works, showcasing one of American history's most eloquent proponents of democracy.

Upon publication, Thomas Paine’s modest pamphlet Common Sense shocked and spurred the foundling American colonies of 1776 to action. It demanded freedom from Britain—when even the most fervent patriots were only advocating tax reform. Paine’s daring prose paved the way for the Declaration of Independence and, consequently, the Revolutionary War. For “without the pen of Paine,” as John Adams said, “the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.”
 
Later, his impassioned defense of the French Revolution, Rights of Man, caused a worldwide sensation. Napoleon, for one, claimed to have slept with a copy under his pillow, recommending that “a statue of gold should be erected to [Paine] in every city in the universe.”

Here in one volume, these two complete works are joined with selections from Pain's other major essays, “The Crisis,” “The Age of Reason,” and “Agrarian Justice.”

Includes a Foreword by Jack Fruchtman Jr.
and an Introduction by Sidney Hook

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Signet
• Date d'édition: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0451528891
• ISBN 13: 9780451528896
• Reliure: Mass Market Paperback
• Nombre de pages: 416