A Timeline of Human Rights
(Under Construction)
March 13,
1792
The Rights of Man (Part 1) by Thomas Paine
Filed under: Ideas, Democracy, Europe, USA
Published in response to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, Paine’s work argued against Burke’s defense of monarchy and artistocracy, for the natural rights of individuals, and in favor of democratic self rule.
But Paine’s book was far more than just a response to Burke. Eric Foner wrote that, “What Common Sense meant for the people of America in their struggle for’ independence and democracy, the Rights of Man meant for all people everywhere struggling to overthrow oppression1.”
The work was widely distributed by the Society for Constitutional Information and the London Constitutional Society in England and was publised in the United States by Thomas Jefferson. Fearing revolution, the government of England charged Paine with treason, but he escaped to France before the trial2.
Part 2 of The Rights of Man (first appearing February 17, 1792) went beyond arguing for republicanism to hold that goverment should establish a positive humanitarian program to address societal inequality and the needs of the poor. This was an apparent change from Paine’s earlier writings, when he argued that government was a necessary evil that should remain as small as possible.
Footnotes
fn1. Philip S. Foner, The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine
fn2. Encyclopedia Britannica (1969, Vol. 17 pp.37)
General sources