“ We have it in our power to begin the world over again. ”
Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776). copy citation
| Author | Thomas Paine |
|---|---|
| Source | Common Sense |
| Topic | world power beginning |
| Date | 1776 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/147/147-h/147-h.htm |
Context
“By the legal voice of the people in Congress; by a military power; or by a mob: It may not always happen that our soldiers are citizens, and the multitude a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. Should an independancy be brought about by the first of those means, we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.”
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Meaning and analysis
