Modern Europe Week 2

For this week, think about the commonalities between Paine, de Gauges, and the Declaration. What
reasonable arguments are put forth to create and justify a republican ideology? How does Burke
understand government and "the right to rule" differently? What are his logical justifications for
disagreeing with Paine et al? What kind of impasses emerge between these documents? How does
the course of the French Revolution reflect/diverge from the writers' observations? YOU DO NOT
HAVE TO ANSWER ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS! These are prompts to think about when
submitting a short response (250-500 words)

When they say the king owes his crown to the choice of his people and is therefore the only lawful
sovereign in the world, they will perhaps tell us they mean to say no more than that some of the
king's predecessors have been called to the throne by some sort of choice, and therefore he owes his
crown to the choice of his people.

Paine, in his response to Burke, discredits Burkes positions by not even advocating for a specific
type of government but instead taking a higher-level view and simply stating that people who are
alive should be able to govern themselves rather than by their heirs. Paine promotes the idea that
government should be constantly adapting to human circumstances. And since human
circumstances constantly change, it is impossible for there to be a government that stays in place
until the end of time.

Burke heavily focused on preserving antiquity and following historical example. He is a firm believer
that the power is vested in inheritance and that, for whatever reason, it is the right of the Parliament
of 1688 to govern everyone in the present and all future generations. He attacks Richard Price, a
leading figure of the Revolution Society in England, by referring to how to the revered lawyers who
formed the Parliament of 1688 did not mention a word of being able to tear down the existing
government and form their own government. To Burke, this is a ridiculous notion as he believes
existing institutions exist to serve the greater good of the people. Thus, Burke viewed the French
revolution a pointless rebellion causing nothing but the pillaging of well-defined infrastructure.

There is a sharp similarity between the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Declaration of the
Rights of Woman. The actual tenets of the declaration are almost a copy with the word woman
substituted for man.

Paine