I found Thomas Paine’s book “Rights of Man” a little hard to get through – there were some interesting moments but I felt like I had to sift through pages of criticism of Burke to find them. I have studied the French Revolution in great depth but I didn’t know there was such a response to the events as this one, especially considering that Paine was British. I think I got Paine’s general idea that you can’t really let the dead (past monarchical rulers) rule the living. I think his argument is quite intelligent considering the time it was written. Obviously revolution would have been very looked down upon in those days and I think he definitely had some valid points on why it was actually OK from the standpoint of ordinary people.
I was actually surprised that there was a text like this from this time period. I can really see how Paine’s argument would have appealed to the working class considering the social reforms he proposed. Even more interesting is how the United States was politically founded on much of what Paine argues. Looking back on my knowledge of European history, I think it’s a bit unfortunate that Paine’s ideas didn’t catch on sooner in Europe considering that there were some pretty awful events taking place there in the 18th-century. That seems to be the standard link with a lot of political pamphlets from this time period though – most of their ideas haven’t been truly recognized or commended until recently.
One reply on “Rights of Man”
Yes, I can understand that the first part of the book is hard to read without having read Burke! But we didn’t want to make everyone read 400 pages of Burke, and I think some of his main points can be captured pretty easily (though I did only manage to read the first 200 pages of his 400 page book before I had to stop and write the lecture!).
Paine was certainly an influential writer in America, though not the only one of course. But yes, a significant amount of what he says is similar to what was established in America and on what basis. It does seem, from the last part of the book, that he wanted to get England in on the action of representative gov’t as well, criticizing its gov’t and pointing to specific reforms that it should undertake in taxes and help for the poor and aged. But yes, it took awhile for that to catch on there!
On another note, could you reactivate the plugin that allows those who make comments to check a box to get an email if there are replies? Go to your dashboard, then to “plugins,” then activate the one called “subscribe to comments.” Thanks!