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I consider the war of America against Britain as the country's war, the public's war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.
Thomas Paine
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Thomas Paine emphasizes the war as a struggle for the people's rights and property, not just a conflict between nations.

In this quote, Thomas Paine articulates the idea that the American Revolution represents more than a battle between America and Britain; it is fundamentally a fight undertaken by the people for their inherent rights and possessions. He highlights the collective ownership of the war's cause, framing it as a struggle for liberty and justice that affects every citizen, thus reinforcing the concept of national identity and personal agency in the pursuit of freedom.

Themes

WarFreedomRightsPropertyRevolution

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech advocating for civil rights, one might say, 'As Thomas Paine stated, we must recognize that our fight is not just against oppression but for the protection of our natural rights.'

More from Thomas Paine

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
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That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
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Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
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The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.
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To reason with goverments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected
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Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
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