>"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
>that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
>that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to
>secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their
>just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of
>Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People
>to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
>foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to
>them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness ... when a
>long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object
>evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their
>right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new
>Guards for their future security."
>
>Tom Paine is all over this argument, and methinks Tom Paine knew his Hobbes
>well enough to take Hobbes where he would not go himself.
I agree that Tom Paine, a common man, pamphleteer, & real-life revolutionary, was a better man than well-born, fancy-pants philosophers! Paine wrote a tract arguing for the abolition of slavery & held advanced opinions on gender equality, unlike more famous Enlightenment philosophers.
Yoshie