(1) Paine Is Not Arguing Against Ancient Law and Antiquity. Ancient Law Has an Important Place in the Constitution. He States That Ancient Laws Survive Because There Is No Opposition to Them, and the Fact That There Is

THOMAS PAINE, RIGHTS OF MAN (1791)

(1) Paine is not arguing against ancient law and antiquity. Ancient law has an important place in the Constitution. He states that ancient laws survive because there is no opposition to them, and the fact that there is no opposition thus passes as consent to those laws, there needn’t be express consent for such laws to survive, the mere non existence of opposition against them is enough.

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(3) We need to civilize the government in order to civilize the citizens. He is arguing in favor of “if you want to civilize the people, the government must become more human.” Meaning the citizens should be treated in a better manner.

(4) The aim of the society is not to make someone worse but better. Natural rights are the basis of our civil rights, civil rights do not exist to take away or limit our natural rights, but limiting and controlling our natural rights is the only way to secure our civil rights.

Natural rights are naturally good for us; they are what are given to us upon our existence, upon us entering this world. Civil rights are the parts we exchange to become better.

He refers to freedom of conscious.

(5) There are three forms of government:

- the government of priest craft (where government is derived from superstition)

- the government of conquerors (where government is derived from power)

- the government of reason (where it is derived from the common interest society and the common rights of man)

(6) It is a contract among the people to create a government, not a government by the people. Governments therefore I created by the people, and thus can only exist if created by the people, as people existed long before governments, a government could not arise out of anything but a contract by the people between each other for its own creation. Any other government that was not created so could not have any right to call itself a government.

(7) You cannot have a government...