Essays · Chapter
Dissertation on First Principles of Government explained
Paine argues that hereditary government has no right to exist, contrasting it with the representative system based on natural rights.
What happens
Paine argues that hereditary government has no right to exist, contrasting it with the representative system based on natural rights. He examines the origin of hereditary power, dismissing claims of right by time or law, and critiques property qualifications for voting, advocating for universal equal rights as the foundation of legitimate government.
Themes in this chapter
Natural Rights and Equality
Paine asserts that hereditary government violates natural rights, and that equality of rights is the only just foundation for voting and representation.
Critique of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession
Paine systematically argues that hereditary government has no right to begin or continue, calling it absurd and unjust.
Representative Government vs. Hereditary System
Paine frames the revolutions of his time as a conflict between representative government (based on rights) and hereditary government (based on usurpation).
Characters to notice
- Thomas Paine
Author and primary voice; declares hereditary government has no right to exist and defends representative government.
- Robespierre
Used as an example to argue that no family has a superior right to hereditary rule; Paine equates Robespierre's claim with that of any hereditary monarch.
- Louis Capet
Mentioned implicitly as part of the Capet family, used to illustrate the lack of exclusive right to hereditary government.
Key passages
“there is not a problem in Euclid more mathematically true, than that hereditary government has not a right to exist.”
Paine claims it is as certain as a geometric proof that hereditary government is illegitimate.
Emphasizes the absolute certainty of his argument against hereditary rule.
“The right which any man or any family had to set itself up at first to govern a nation, and to establish itself hereditarily, was no other than the right which Robespierre had to do the same thing in France.”
The original claim to hereditary rule is no more valid than Robespierre's attempt to seize power.
Equates all hereditary claims with revolutionary usurpation to undermine their legitimacy.
“The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery.”
Voting is the fundamental right that safeguards all others; disenfranchisement is a form of enslavement.
Links political rights to personal liberty and condemns property-based voting restrictions.