The Rights of Man · Question
How does The Rights of Man develop the theme of Natural Rights of Man?
Answer
The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine develops Natural Rights of Man across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
Paine argues that all men are born with inherent, inalienable rights such as liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression, which form the foundation of legitimate government.
Paine insisted on surrounding individual rights with a Declaration of Rights, not to be invaded by any government, rooted in Quaker belief in universal brotherhood and equality.
Paine argues that all men are born with natural rights that cannot be alienated by any government.
Paine argues that rights are inherent to all individuals, not granted by governments or hereditary succession.
Evidence in the book
- Editor's Introduction
Paine insisted on surrounding individual rights with a Declaration of Rights, not to be invaded by any government, rooted in Quaker belief in universal brotherhood and equality.
- The Rights of Man
Paine argues that all men are born with natural rights that cannot be alienated by any government.
- Part First: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution
Paine argues that rights are inherent to all individuals, not granted by governments or hereditary succession.
- Dedication
Paine presents his work in defense of the principles of freedom, directly invoking the concept of universal Rights of Man.
- Rights of Man
Paine asserts that the right to choose governors, cashier them for misconduct, and frame a government resides in the whole nation, not in any particular person or generation.
- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens by the National Assembly of France
The declaration explicitly states that men are born free and equal in rights, and that the preservation of natural and imprescriptible rights (liberty, property, security, resistance to oppression) is the end of all political associations.
- Observations on the Declaration of Rights
Paine examines the Declaration of Rights as a codification of natural rights, emphasizing the first three articles as the base of liberty
- Miscellaneous Chapter
Paine invokes the natural right of each generation to self-governance, rejecting Burke's claim that rights are inherited from ancestors.
