"Our citizenship in the united states is our national character . Our citizenship in a particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is , AMERICANS; our inferior one varies with the place .
"So far as my endeavors could go, they have all been directed to conciliate the affections, unite the interests, and draw and keep the mind of the country together; and to better assist in this foundation work of the revolution, I have avoided all places of profit or office, either in the state I live in , or in the united states; kept myself at a distance from all parties and party connections, and even disregarded all private and inferior concerns: and when we take into view the great work we have gone through, and feel, as we ought to feel, the just importance of it, we shall then see, that the little wranglings and indecent contentions of personal party, are as dishonorable to our characters, as they are injurious to our repose.
"It was the cause of America that made me an author. The force with which it struck my mind, and the dangerous condition the country appeared to me in, by courting an impossible and unnatural reconciliation with those who were determined to reduce her, instead of striking out into the only line that could cement and save her, A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, made it impossible for me, feeling as I did, to be silent: and if, in the course of more than seven years, I have rendered her any service, I have likewise added something to the reputation of literature, by freely and disinterestedly employing it in the great cause of mankind , and showing there may be genius without prostitution....
"But the scenes of war are closed, and every man preparing for home and happier times , I therefore take my leave of the subject. I have most sincerely followed it from beginning to end, and through all its turns and windings: and whatever country I may hereafter be in, I shall always feel an honest pride at the part I have taken and acted, and a gratitude to Nature and Providence for putting it in my power to be of some use to mankind. COMMON SENSE. Philadelphia, April 19, 1783."
P. 352-354, "The Last Crisis," THOMAS PAINE COLLECTED WRITINGS (1955)
Friday, July 6, 2018
THOMAS PAINE, "FINAL CRISIS"
"Our citizenship in the united states is our national character . Our citizenship in a particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is , AMERICANS; our inferior one varies with the place .
"So far as my endeavors could go, they have all been directed to conciliate the affections, unite the interests, and draw and keep the mind of the country together; and to better assist in this foundation work of the revolution, I have avoided all places of profit or office, either in the state I live in , or in the united states; kept myself at a distance from all parties and party connections, and even disregarded all private and inferior concerns: and when we take into view the great work we have gone through, and feel, as we ought to feel, the just importance of it, we shall then see, that the little wranglings and indecent contentions of personal party, are as dishonorable to our characters, as they are injurious to our repose.
"It was the cause of America that made me an author. The force with which it struck my mind, and the dangerous condition the country appeared to me in, by courting an impossible and unnatural reconciliation with those who were determined to reduce her, instead of striking out into the only line that could cement and save her, A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, made it impossible for me, feeling as I did, to be silent: and if, in the course of more than seven years, I have rendered her any service, I have likewise added something to the reputation of literature, by freely and disinterestedly employing it in the great cause of mankind , and showing there may be genius without prostitution....
"But the scenes of war are closed, and every man preparing for home and happier times , I therefore take my leave of the subject. I have most sincerely followed it from beginning to end, and through all its turns and windings: and whatever country I may hereafter be in, I shall always feel an honest pride at the part I have taken and acted, and a gratitude to Nature and Providence for putting it in my power to be of some use to mankind. COMMON SENSE. Philadelphia, April 19, 1783."
P. 352-354, "The Last Crisis," THOMAS PAINE COLLECTED WRITINGS (1955)