In my opinion, Thomas Paine's pamphlet offers by far a
more revolutionary critique of the British form of government. I would say that
Jefferson criticizes the actions of the
current British government while Paine criticizes the whole
concept of monarchy and of British rule of the colonies.
If
you read the Declaration, Jefferson is actually relatively mild on the idea of the
monarchy. He simply says that any government has to have the consent of the people and
that it must protect the people's rights. He does criticize the current king's actions,
but doesn't say that monarchy is always horrible.
Paine, by
contrast, really does say monarchy is always a bad idea. He says that monarchy is
simply wrong. For example, he says
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As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest
cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the
authority of Scripture; for the will of the Almighty … expressly disapproves of
government by kings….
When
you say "God hates monarchy" it's a lot worse than what Jefferson is
saying.
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