Part Second, Chapter III 'Of the Old and New Systems of Government'
Hereditary succession is 'as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet-laureate.'
Read in Books4Free →Critique of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession
From Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
Paine condemns hereditary government as an absurdity comparable to a hereditary mathematician or poet laureate; it is inherently irrational because wisdom and virtue are not transmissible by birth.
Part First, on William the Conqueror
Paine traces English monarchy to a 'French bastard landing with an armed banditti' — delegitimizing the entire hereditary line.
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