Existing comment:
1795
Dissertation on First Principles of Government
London, 1795
Thomas Paine emphatically restated his egalitarian views and abhorrence of monarchy in "Dissertation on First Principles of Government," which was intended primarily for readers in Holland. Paine's talent for crafting direct yet impassioned arguments was striking: "The true and only true basis of representative government," he wrote, "is equality of rights. Every man has a right to one vote, and no more, in the choice of representatives. The rich have no more right to exclude the poor from the right of voting... and being elected than the poor have to exclude the rich." |