Common sense: addressed to the inhabitants of America, on the following interesting subjects. I. Of the origin and design of government in general, with concise remarks on the English constitution. II. Of monarchy and hereditary succession. III. Thoughts on the present state of American affairs. IV. Of the present ability of America, with some miscellaneous reflections. A new edition, with several additions in the body of the work. To which is added an appendix; together with an address to the people called Quakers. N.B. The new addition here given increases the work upwards of one third.

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18 COMMON SENSE. the throats of the vulgar. Perhaps the difordert which threatened or feemed to threaten, on the deceafe of a leader and the choice of a new one (for eleéiions among rufliane could not be very orderly) induced many at fitfl. to favour hereditary pretenfions ; by which means it happened, as it hath happened fince, that what at firfl was fubmitted to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right. England, fincc the conquef't, bath known fnme few good monarchs, but groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones ; yet no man in his fenfes can fay that their claim COMMON SENSE. 19 list and hereditary fucceflion are parallels. Difhonorable tank! Inglorious connexion l Yet the molt lubttietbphit'l: cannot produce a jufier fimile. As to ufurpation, no man will be fo hardy as to defend it; and that Wi liam the Conquercr was an .Uflllptl', is a faéi not to be contradléled. The plain truth is, that the antiquity of Englilh monarchy won't hear locking into. But it is not fo much the ablmdity as the evil of hereditary fucceffion which concerns. mankind. Did it infure a race of good and wife men it Would have the feal of di- under William the Conqueror is a very honorable one. A. French ballaid landing with an armed banditti, and cilablifhing himfelf king of England againfl the confent of the swirled, and the improper, it hath in it the nature of oppttfli- natives, is in plain terms a very paltry ralcally original.-= It certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is noedlefs on. Men who look upon themfelves born to reign, and o» thers to obey, foon grow infolent; felt-fled from the tell of vine authority, but as it opens a door to the flair/i7, the to friend much time in expofing the folly of hereditary right, mankind, their minds are early poifoned by importance; if thete are any to reek as to believe it, let them promifcu~ and the world they aét in difi'crs {o materially from the world at large, that they have but little Opportunity of knowing its true interefis, and when they fucceed to the government, are frequently the mof'c ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. Anotherevil which attends hereditary fucceflion is, that the throne is fubjeél to be ttofleflbd by a minor at any age; all which time the regency. a€ting under the cover of a king have every opportunity and inducement to betray their trul't. The fame national misfortune happens, when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the left liege of hm'nan oufly woafhip the sis and lion, and we'come. lfhall neither Copy their humiliy, nor dilitrrb their devotion. Yet lfhould be glad to all: how they {uppofe kings came at fitll. E the quellion admits but of three anfwers, viz. either by lot, by election, or by ufurpation. If the {rift king; wastaken by lot, it etiablifhes a precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary focceffion. Saul was by lot, yet the fuccetfion was not hereditary, neither does it appear from thattranfafl'ion there was any intention it ever fhould. it" the lit-ti king of any country was by elecfiion, that likewifs rvflahlifhes a precedent for the next; for to fay, that the right «if all future generations is taken away, by the aél of the hill e‘eélors, in their choice not only of a king, but of a family oi bugs for ever,hath no parallel in or out of {crip- weaknefs. In both thefe cafes the public btcrtm a ptey to Crazy mthreant, who can tamper fuccefsfully with the fathers cilherof age or infancy. , The mofi plaufibie plea, whirh hath ever been ofi‘ered in tuze, hot the dofititie oforiginal fin, which fuppofes the fret: favor of hereditary fucceffion, is, that it preferves a nation wilof all men loft in Adam; and from fuch comparifon, and it will admit of no other, hereditary fuccefiion can de- from civil wars; and were this true, it Would be weight; ; whereas, it is the mofi bare faced faiiizy ever impofed upon rive- no glory. For as in Adam all finned, and as in the hill eleé'lors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind mankind. The whole hiftory of England difowns the laé‘r. Thirty kings and two mirrors have reigned in that dihraélerl kingdom fince the conquelifln which time there have been (including the Revolution) no lets than eight/civil wars and nineteen rebellions. Wherefore inflead of making for peace, it makes againfi it, and deflroys the very foundation were {objected to (attain, and in the other to {ovezeignty ; as out innocence was loft in the firfi, and our authority in the latt; and as both difable us from re affirming fame former {late and privilege, it unantvverably follows that original it {some to {land on. 3311 The