The Rights of Man · Question
How does The Rights of Man develop the theme of Popular Sovereignty?
Answer
The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine develops Popular Sovereignty across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The book asserts that the nation is the sole source of political authority, and any government must derive its power from the consent of the governed, rejecting hereditary or monarchical rule.
Paine asserts that the people have the right to establish, reform, or abolish their government.
Paine asserts that political authority derives from the consent of the people, not from monarchs or tradition.
Paine emphasizes that reform must come from the nations themselves, not from governments.
Evidence in the book
- The Rights of Man
Paine asserts that the people have the right to establish, reform, or abolish their government.
- Part First: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution
Paine asserts that political authority derives from the consent of the people, not from monarchs or tradition.
- Paine's Preface to the French Edition
Paine emphasizes that reform must come from the nations themselves, not from governments.
- Rights of Man
Paine argues that the nation has an original right to reform its government through a general convention, and that no generation can bind another.
- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens by the National Assembly of France
The declaration asserts that the nation is the essential source of all sovereignty, and that no individual or body can exercise authority not expressly derived from it, emphasizing the principle of popular sovereignty.
- Miscellaneous Chapter
Paine asserts that the nation has an original right to choose and change its form of government, and that no parliament or monarch can override the general will.
- Conclusion
The nation is the source of all sovereignty; monarchical sovereignty is abolished and restored to the nation.
- Of Constitutions
Paine argues that constitutions are compacts among the people, not between people and government, and that government is a trust delegated by the people.
