Common Sense, the Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine

Table of Contents


FROM THE PAGES OF COMMON SENSE AND OTHER WRITINGS

Title Page

Copyright Page

THOMAS PAINE


List of Tables


THE WORLD OF THOMAS PAINEAND HIS WRITINGS

Introduction

PUBLISHER’S NOTE


AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA - [1775]

AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA.

COMMON SENSE - [1776]

INTRODUCTION.
COMMON SENSE.
APPENDIX.

THE AMERICAN CRISIS PAPERS - Nos. I, 10, and 13 [1776-1783]

THE CRISIS.
THE CRISIS.
THE CRISIS.

RIGHTS OF MAN - (selections)

PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION.
RIGHTS OF MAN.
MISCELLANEOUS CHAPTER.
CONCLUSION.

RIGHTS OF MAN - [Part the Second]

FRENCH TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. (1792.)
TO M. DE LA FAYETTE.
PREFACE.
RIGHTS OF MAN. - Introduction.
CHAPTER I. - Of Society and Civilisation.
CHAPTER II. - Of the Origin of the Present Old Governments.
CHAPTER III. - Of the Old and New Systems of Government.
CHAPTER IV. - Of Constitutions.
CHAPTER V. - Ways and Means of Improving the Condition of Europe, ...

THE AGE OF REASON - (selections)

THE AGE OF REASON. PART I.
THE AGE OF REASON. - PART II.

AGRARIAN JUSTICE - [I795]

AUTHOR’S INSCRIPTION. - To the Legislature and the Executive Directory of the ...
PREFACE.
AGRARIAN JUSTICE.

LETTERS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES - And particularly to the Leaders ...

LETTER NO. ONE
LETTER NO. TWO
LETTER NO. THREE
LETTER NO. FOUR
LETTER NO. FIVE
LETTER NO. SIX

INSPIRED BY THOMAS PAINE AND HIS WRITINGS

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

FOR FURTHER READING

List of Tables


TABLE I.

TABLE II.

TABLE III.

FROM THE PAGES OF
COMMON SENSE AND OTHER WRITINGS

That some desperate wretches should be willing to steal and enslave men by violence and murder for gain, is rather lamentable than strange. (from “African Slavery in America,” page 5)


Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness. (from “Common Sense,” page 17)


There is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of Heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.

(from “Common Sense,” pages 22-23)


When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. (from “Common Sense,” page 54)


These are the times that try men’s souls.

(from “The Crisis,” page 73)


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: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

(from “The Crisis,” page 73)

Every child born into the world must be considered as deriving its existence from God. The world is as new to him as it was to the first man that existed, and his natural right in it is of the same kind.

(from “Rights of Man,” page 128)


When it is laid down as a maxim, that a King can do no wrong, it places him in a state of similar security with that of ideots and persons insane, and responsibility is out of the question with respect to himself. (from “Rights of Man,” page 164)


All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

(from “The Age of Reason,” page 258)


When authors and critics talk of the sublime, they see not how nearly it borders on the ridiculous.

(from “The Age of Reason,” page 319)


The present state of civilization is as odious as it is unjust. It is absolutely the opposite of what it should be, and it is necessary that a revolution should be made in it. The contrast of affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye, is like dead and living bodies chained together.

(from “Agrarian Justice,” page 339)


As laws may be bad as well as good, an empire of laws may be the best of all governments or the worst of all tyrannies.

(from “Letters to American Citizens,” page 352)

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D The works in this volume were originally published from 1775 to 1803.


Published in 2005 by Barnes & Noble Classics with new Introduction, Notes,
Biography, Chronology, Inspired By, Comments & Questions,
and For Further Reading.


Introduction, Notes, and For Further Reading

Copyright © 2005 by Joyce Appleby.


Note on Frances Thomas Paine, The World of
Thomas Paine and His Writings, Inspired by Thomas Paine
and His Writings, and Comments & Questions
Copyright © 2005 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.


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Common Sense and Other Writings

ISBN-10: 1-59308-209-6 ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-209-3

eISBN : 978-1-411-43194-2

LC Control Number 2005922117


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