The Rights of Man

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1791

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Part 2, IntroductionChapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Introduction Summary

Paine credits the American revolutionaries with inaugurating a new era by opening the eyes of the world to the fact that republican liberty means improvement for humankind. He contrasts America’s republicanism with the political situation in Europe, where monarchical governments make war so as to enrich the few at the expense of the many. In Part 2, Paine promises to examine the consequences of hereditary government.

Part 2, Introduction Analysis

Paine’s brief introduction makes Part 2’s most important argument explicit: There is a direct connection between a nation’s form of government and the condition of its people. In Europe and in Britain, Paine finds “hordes of miserable poor,” who are “the consequence of what in such countries is called government” (234). Furthermore, war is the primary method by which hereditary governments enslave the people. Wars mean debts, debts require taxes, and taxes redistribute wealth upward.

Although Part 2 also builds on arguments introduced in Part 1—in particular those related to constitutions—Paine’s explicit connections between war, poverty, and hereditary government introduce a new key element of his thought. His aversion to war, coupled with his focus on improving the lot of the common man, represents both one of Part 2’s most important arguments and is one of Paine’s most revolutionary ideas more generally.