1. Common Sense Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession

2. All men are equal at birth. Mankind imposes inequality on each other. Oppression doesn’t cause wealth; it’s the result of wealth.

3. Male and Female are the distinctions of Nature. Good and Bad are distinctions made by Heaven. How we wound up with Kings and common men is worth investigating. Do Kings cause happiness or misery?

4. In the early ages of the world, there were no Kings. Holland has no King and has enjoyed more peace for the past century than any of the European governments who have Kings (circ. 1776)

5. Government by King was first introduced to the world by Heathens. “It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry.” What is idolatry?

6. “The will of the Almighty… expressly disapproves of government by Kings.” Why would “God” disapprove of government by Kings?

7. Jewish governments existed for 3,000 years without a king. Their government was a kind of Republic, administered by a judge and the elders of the tribe The creation of monarchy is “ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews.” “for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them.”

8. What originally made the Jewish nation better than all of the others (and favored by God) was that it was so UNLIKE all other nations. They offered to make Samuel their King. Samuel turned them down, saying that the honor wasn’t theirs to give. If the people can’t make a man king, who can? **Note what Paine says Kings do**

9. Monarchy is evil because by worshiping someone as King, people are degrading and lessening themselves. Hereditary succession is an insult and an imposition on posterity.

10. All men, at birth, are originally equal. No one has a right to set up his family in perpetual preference to all others for ever. While a man may deserve honor and wealth, his descendents might be far too unworthy to inherit it.

11. Nobody has the right to name the unborn leaders of their own unborn kids. “Such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next generation put them under the government of a rogue or fool.”

12. It’s not so much the absurdity of hereditary succession which is the concern of all mankind, it’s the wickedness. If hereditary succession ensured that good, just leaders were always appointed, it would probably be a good thing. “… as it opens the door to the FOOLISH, the WICKED, and the IMPROPER, it has in it the nature of oppression.”

13. Given early preference to their fellow man, Kings’ minds are early poisoned by self importance The world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have little opportunity to know its true interests.

14. The throne is also subject to be occupied by a minor or a frail old man at any time. At this time, there is every opportunity and inducement to overthrow the King. The best defense of hereditary succession is as a deterrent to Civil War. English history completely debunks that defense. “…monarchy and succession have laid (not this kingdom or that kingdom only) the world in blood and ashes.