Essays · Theme
Critique of the English Constitution and Funding System
How Essays develops Critique of the English Constitution and Funding System.
The text exposes the flaws in the English constitution and its financial system, particularly the national debt and funding system, predicting its inevitable collapse due to its unsustainable and corrupt nature.
Where it surfaces
- Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution
Paine extensively criticizes the English constitution as complex, absurd, and a mixture of monarchical and aristocratic tyrannies with ineffective checks.
- Appendix
Paine criticizes the corrupt and faithless British court, arguing that no agreement with Britain can be trusted due to the nature of its government.
- The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance
Paine systematically attacks the English funding system as fraudulent and doomed, comparing it unfavorably to the American and French systems.
- Endnotes
The endnotes discuss Paine's analysis of the English funding system, the balance of trade, and the prediction of the Bank of England's gold suspension.