the psychological
moment; and being everywhere read during the months from January to
July, 1776, it was precisely suited to convince men, not so much that
they ought to declare independence, as that they ought to declare
it gladly, ought to cast off lightly their former false and mawkish
affection for the "mother country" and once for all to make an end of
backward yearning looks over the shoulder at this burning Sodom.

To a militant patriot like Thomas Paine it was profoundly humiliating
to recall that for ten years past Americans had professed themselves
"humble and loyal subjects" and "dutiful children," yielding to none in
"admiration" for the "excellent British Constitution," desiring only to
live and die as free citizens under the protecting wing of the mother
country. Recalling all this sickening sentimentalism, Mr. Paine uttered
a loud and ringing BOSH! Let us clear our minds of cant, he said in
effect, and ask ourselves what is the nature of government in general
and of the famous British Constitution in particular. Like the Abbe
Sieyes, Mr. Paine had completely mastered the science of government,
which was in fact extremely simple. Men form societies, he said,
to satisfy their wants, and then find that governments have to
be established to restrain their wickedness; and therefore, since
government is obviously a necessary evil, that government is best which
is simplest.

Just consider then this "excellent British Constitution," and say
whether it is simple. On the contrary, it is the most complicated,
irrational, and ridiculous contrivance ever devised as a government of
enlightened men. Its admirers say that this complexity is a virtue, on
account of the nice balance of powers between King, Lords, and Commons,
which guarantees a kind of liberty through the resulting inertia of the
whole. The Lords check the Commons and the Commons check the King. But
how comes it that the King needs to be checked? Can he not be trusted?
This is really the secret of the whole business--that Monarchy naturally
tends to despotism; so that the complication of the British Constitution
is a virtue only because its basic principle is false and vicious. If
Americans still accept the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, well
and good; if not, then in Heaven's name let them cease to bow down in
abject admiration of the British Constitution!

And in ceasing to admire the British Constitution, Americans should
also, Thomas Paine