I was struck by the audaciousness of an utterance by Thomas Paine; yet I was also piqued by its actual accuracy then, or since, in politics in America or anywhere on earth?
He wrote in "To the Inhabitants of America" on March 21, 1778, as the closing part of his pamphlet, "THE AMERICAN CRISIS, V" as follows:
"Had it not been for America there had been no such thing as freedom left throughout the whole universe. England has lost hers in a long chain of right reasoning from wrong principles, and it is from this country now she must learn the resolution to redress herself, and the wisdom how.
"The Grecians and Romans were strongly possessed of the 'spirit' of liberty but 'not' the 'principle,' for at the time they were determined not to be slaves themselves, they employed their power to enslave the rest of mankind. But this distinguished era is blotted by no one misanthropic vice. In short, if the principle on which the cause is founded, the universal blessings that are to arise from it, the difficulties that accompanied it, the wisdom with which it has been debated , the fortitude by which it has been supported, the strength of the power we had to oppose, and the condition in which we undertook it, be all taken in one view, we may justly style it the most virtuous and illustrious revolution that ever graced the history of mankind.
"A good opinion of ourselves is exceedingly necessary in private life, but absolutely necessary in public life, and of the utmost importance in supporting national character. I have no notion of yielding the palm of the United States to any Grecians or Romans that were ever born. We have equaled the bravest in times of danger, and excelled the wisest in the construction of civil governments, 'no one in America is excepted.'"
P.169, THOMAS PAINE : COLLECTED WRITINGS (1955)
Monday, May 1, 2017
"HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR AMERICA..."
I was struck by the audaciousness of an utterance by Thomas Paine; yet I was also piqued by its actual accuracy then, or since, in politics in America or anywhere on earth?
He wrote in "To the Inhabitants of America" on March 21, 1778, as the closing part of his pamphlet, "THE AMERICAN CRISIS, V" as follows:
"Had it not been for America there had been no such thing as freedom left throughout the whole universe. England has lost hers in a long chain of right reasoning from wrong principles, and it is from this country now she must learn the resolution to redress herself, and the wisdom how.
"The Grecians and Romans were strongly possessed of the 'spirit' of liberty but 'not' the 'principle,' for at the time they were determined not to be slaves themselves, they employed their power to enslave the rest of mankind. But this distinguished era is blotted by no one misanthropic vice. In short, if the principle on which the cause is founded, the universal blessings that are to arise from it, the difficulties that accompanied it, the wisdom with which it has been debated , the fortitude by which it has been supported, the strength of the power we had to oppose, and the condition in which we undertook it, be all taken in one view, we may justly style it the most virtuous and illustrious revolution that ever graced the history of mankind.
"A good opinion of ourselves is exceedingly necessary in private life, but absolutely necessary in public life, and of the utmost importance in supporting national character. I have no notion of yielding the palm of the United States to any Grecians or Romans that were ever born. We have equaled the bravest in times of danger, and excelled the wisest in the construction of civil governments, 'no one in America is excepted.'"
P.169, THOMAS PAINE : COLLECTED WRITINGS (1955)