Rights of Man (The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume 2)

About this book

When Edmund Burke attacked the French Revolution in 1790, Thomas Paine answered him in Rights of Man, the centrepiece of this volume of his collected writings. He defends the Revolution, argues that every generation has the right to govern itself, that governments exist only by the consent of the people and that hereditary monarchy and aristocracy are absurd, and in the second part proposes taxes on the rich to pay for public education, pensions for the old and help for the poor.

Context and significance

Published in 1791 and 1792, Rights of Man sold in enormous numbers and was banned in Britain, where Paine was tried and outlawed for seditious libel; he fled to France and was elected to its National Convention. This volume of The Writings of Thomas Paine, edited by Moncure Daniel Conway, also contains his other writings of 1779 to 1792. Read Common Sense.

About the author