48 pages • 1 hour read
Thomas PaineA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Drawing on arguments advanced throughout Part 1, Paine concludes that republican governments are rooted in reason, while hereditary governments thrive upon ignorance. In hereditary mixed governments—such as the one prevailing in Britain—no party takes full responsibility, making accountability difficult. Kings appoint ministers who operate in Parliament and the executive blends with the legislative. The division of governments into monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy is foolish, and the blending of the three equally so, for sovereignty resides only in the people, and a government of the people is a republic. Paine suggests that if all nations adopted this republican principle, then “the cause of wars would be taken away” (207). He even proposes something akin to an international organization, like the League of Nations or the United Nations, to abolish war. In the final paragraph, he declares the late-18th century “an age of revolutions, in which everything may be looked for” (211).
This five-page conclusion brings together nearly all key elements of Paine’s political philosophy in Part 1. His attack on the hereditary principle again relates to his broader argument against the British government and its so-called “constitution.” To men such as Burke, the mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy constitutes the genius of the British system, but in Paine’s view, the forms and principles of each are “foreigners to each other” (90), so their combination into a single government system is irrational.
By Thomas Paine
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Books on U.S. History
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Class
View Collection
European History
View Collection
Nation & Nationalism
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Politics & Government
View Collection
Power
View Collection