Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Agrarian Justice
    Agrarian Justice
    Agrarian Justice
    Ebook32 pages28 minutes

    Agrarian Justice

    By Thomas Paine

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination." Born in Thetford, in the English county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet "Common Sense" (1776), advocating colonial America's independence from Great Britain, and "The American Crisis" (1776-1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. Paine was also deeply involved in the early stages of the French Revolution. He wrote the "Rights of Man" (1791), in part a defence of the French Revolution against its critics, in particular the British statesman Edmund Burke. Despite not speaking French, he was elected to the French National Convention in 1792. The Girondists regarded him as an ally, so, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy. In December of 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of "The Age of Reason" (1793-94), his book advocating deism, promoting reason and freethinking, and arguing against institutionalized religion and Christian doctrines. He also wrote the pamphlet "Agrarian Justice" (1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStart Publishing LLC
    Release dateMar 21, 2013
    ISBN9781625588487
    Agrarian Justice
    Author

    Thomas Paine

    English-born Thomas Paine left behind hearth and home for adventures on the high seas at nineteen. Upon returning to shore, he became a tax officer, and it was this job that inspired him to write The Case of the Officers of Excise in 1772. Paine then immigrated to Philadelphia, and in 1776 he published Common Sense, a defense of American independence from England. After returning to Europe, Paine wrote his famous Rights of Man as a response to criticism of the French Revolution. He was subsequently labeled as an outlaw, leading him to flee to France where he joined the National Convention. However, in 1793 Paine was imprisoned, and during this time he wrote the first part of The Age of Reason, an anti-church text which would go on to be his most famous work. After his release, Paine returned to America where he passed away in 1809.

    Read more from Thomas Paine

    Related to Agrarian Justice

    Related ebooks

    Philosophy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Churchill’s World Crisis

      Nov 5, 2018

      Churchill’s World Crisis
      8 min read

    • Article

      In Praise Of Idleness

      Apr 30, 2018

      In Praise Of Idleness
      5 min read

    • Article

      Power Struggle

      Jul 30, 2018

      Power Struggle
      5 min read

    • Article

      Wealth

      Mar 31, 2024

      Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802-1838 One great evil of highly civilised society is, the immense distance between the rich and the poor; it leads, on either side, to a hardened selfishness. Where we know little, we care little; but the fact once admi

      3 min read

    • Article

      Malthus Was Not a Malthusian

      Jan 1, 2020

      Malthus Was Not a Malthusian
      13 min read

    • Article

      What This Cruel War Was Over

      Jun 22, 2015

      What This Cruel War Was Over
      14 min read

    • Article

      Time To Resist

      Oct 7, 2019

      Time To Resist
      4 min read

    • Article

      Interview / Niall Ferguson

      Jun 10, 2021

      Interview / Niall Ferguson
      11 min read

    • Article

      The New American Empire

      Jan 24, 2019

      The New American Empire
      5 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: One World: The wisdom of wholeness

      Dec 23, 2020

      "We won't be in a position to make permanent progressive changes until the bad governments are changed permanently into good governments. And all governments are bad governments now and will remain bad governments until we have a global humanity." Th

      4 min read

    • Article

      Beyond The Veil Of Ignorance

      Apr 22, 2019

      Beyond The Veil Of Ignorance
      4 min read

    • Article

      For Decency’s Sake, Let’s Quit Strasbourg

      Jan 27, 2022

      HIBBOLETHS THESE DAYS come in all shapes and sizes. Since the UK signed the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in 1950, few have dared question the need to maintain our allegiance to it. It is nevertheless time that we left it. There is scope

      5 min read

    • Article

      Anatomy Of A Revolution

      May 9, 2018

      Despite their claim to being something new under the sun, revolutions have their own histories complete with predictable patterns of decline and fall. A classic example is the one that took place in France as the 18th century was ending with a bang.

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Great Waking Up

      Jun 7, 2018

      I don't blame all of the planet's ills on the Republican Party, but I find hope in the possibility that it's on the verge of collapse. I'm not talking politics here. I'm talking deep vision of humanity: a sense of who we are and how we impact Planet

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Lesson of Virtue

      Jul 21, 2022

      A Lesson of Virtue
      4 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: The anti-racist revolution

      Oct 22, 2020

      The nation has less than two weeks left to live in its comfort zone of platitudes. This is by far the most ominous election buildup of my (fairly lengthy at this point) lifetime. What will happen on Nov. 3 and thereafter? Will all the votes be counte

      4 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: The anti-racist revolution

      Oct 22, 2020

      The nation has less than two weeks left to live in its comfort zone of platitudes. This is by far the most ominous election buildup of my (fairly lengthy at this point) lifetime. What will happen on Nov. 3 and thereafter? Will all the votes be counte

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Agrarian Justice

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Agrarian Justice - Thomas Paine

      Agrarian Justice

      By Thomas Paine

      Start Publishing LLC

      Copyright © 2012 by Start Publishing LLC

      All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

      First Start Publishing eBook edition October 2012

      Start Publishing is a registered trademark of Start Publishing LLC

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      ISBN 978-1-62558-848-7

      Author’s Inscription (editors notes follow)

      To the Legislature and the Executive Directory of the French Republic

      THE plan contained in this work is not adapted for any particular country alone: the principle on which it is based is general. But as the rights of man are a new study in this world, and one needing protection from priestly imposture, and the insolence of oppressions too long established, I have thought it right to place this little work under your safeguard.

      When we reflect on the long and dense night in which France and all Europe have remained plunged by their governments and their priests, we must feel less surprise than grief at the bewilderment caused by the first burst of light that dispels the darkness. The eye accustomed to darkness can hardly bear at first the broad daylight. It is by usage the eye learns to see, and it is the same inpassing from any situation to its opposite.

      As we have not at one instant renounced all our errors, we cannot at one stroke acquire knowledge of all our rights. France has had the honor of adding to the word Liberty that of Equality; and this word signifies essentially a principle that admits of no gradation in the things to which it applies. But equality is often misunderstood, often misapplied, and often violated.

      Liberty and Property are words expressing all those of our possessions which are not of an intellectual nature. There are two kinds of property. Firstly, natural property, or that which comes to us from the Creator of the universe--such as the earth,air, water. Secondly, artificial or acquired property--theinvention of men.

      In the latter, equality is impossible; for to distribute it equally it would be necessary that all should have contributed in the same proportion, which can never be the case; and this being the case, every individual would hold on to

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1