Editing Common Sense (section)

===II. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession===
The second section considers [[monarchy]] first from a biblical perspective and then from a historical perspective. He begins by arguing that since all men are equal at creation, the distinction between kings and subjects is a false one. Paine then quotes a sequence of biblical passages to refute the [[divine right of Kings]]. After citing {{bibleverse|Matthew|22:21|NIV}}, he highlights [[Gideon]]'s refusal to heed the people's call to rule, citing {{bibleverse|Judges|8:22|HE}}. He then reproduces the majority of {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|8|HE}} (wherein Samuel relays God's objections to the people's demand for a king) and concludes: "the Almighty hath here entered his protest against monarchical government..."

Paine then examines some of the problems that kings and monarchies have caused in the past and concludes:
{{blockquote|In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.|Thomas Paine<ref>Paine, ''Common Sense'', excerpted from ''The Thomas Paine Reader'', p. 79</ref>}}

Paine also attacks one type of "mixed state," the [[constitutional monarchy]] promoted by [[John Locke]], in which the powers of government are separated between a Parliament or Congress, which makes the laws, and a monarch, who executes them. The constitutional monarchy, according to Locke, would limit the powers of the king sufficiently to ensure that the realm would remain lawful rather than easily becoming tyrannical. According to Paine, however, such limits are insufficient. In the mixed state, power tends to concentrate into the hands of the monarch, eventually permitting him to transcend any limitations placed upon him. Paine questions why the supporters of the mixed state, since they concede that the power of the monarch is dangerous, wish to include a monarch in their scheme of government in the first place.