# Endnotes explained — The Rights of Man

> Chapter companion for The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine.

## What happens

The endnotes provide additional commentary and citations for the main text, including Paine's reflections on his own career, his defense of Wat Tyler, and his correspondence with George Washington, as well as editorial notes on Burke's pamphlet and the French Revolution.

## Themes in this chapter

### Economic Justice

Paine defends Wat Tyler's rebellion against oppressive poll taxes, emphasizing fairness in taxation.

### Society vs. Government

Paine argues that government should be minimal and that monarchy and aristocracy are fraudulent impositions.

### Revolution and Reform

Paine discusses the American Revolution and his role in it, as well as the French Revolution.

## Character check-ins

### Thomas Paine

Author of the endnotes; reflects on his own political writings and career.

### Edmund Burke

Criticized by Paine; Burke's pamphlet and his defense of hereditary succession are referenced.

### George Washington

Paine includes a letter from Washington expressing friendship and appreciation for Paine's works.

### Wat Tyler

Paine defends Tyler's role in opposing unjust taxation and compares him to the Barons at Runnymede.

### Marquis de La Fayette

Mentioned as a source of information about the French Revolution.

### Richard Price

Noted as having died in 1791; his writings are referenced in the context of the Revolution.

### Nathanael Greene

Paine communicated with Greene about his plan to go to England during the war.

### Silas Deane

Mentioned in connection with Paine's resignation as Secretary in the Foreign Department.

## Key lines

> Those two short paragraphs are taken into the information as prosecutable matter; but on what ground such a prosecution can be supported I am at a loss to discover.

Paine expresses confusion about why his statements were considered prosecutable, arguing that all parts of government should be open to examination.

_Paine defends freedom of speech and the right to criticize government._

> Tyler appears to have been an intrepid disinterested man with respect to himself. All his proposals made to Richard were on a more just and public ground than those which had been made to John by the Barons.

Paine praises Wat Tyler as a selfless leader whose demands for justice were more noble than those of the Barons at Runnymede.

_Paine elevates Tyler's rebellion as a legitimate popular uprising against unjust taxation._

> I neither read books, nor studied other people’s opinion. I thought for myself.

Paine claims he developed his political ideas independently, without relying on books or others' views.

_Paine emphasizes his originality and independence of thought._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rights_of_man_se/chapters/endnotes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rights_of_man_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rights_of_man_se/chapters