Question

How does Paine think the practice of choosing a monarch was originally different from today

Answer 1

Paine states that mankind was originally at a state of equality and the subsequent appearance of all distinctions between human beings have to been brought about by an unnatural circumstance. This distinction between people is "not one of heaven".

Pain believes that men have committed a serious mistake when deciding to have someone other than God to govern them. In the past, a person worthy of certain honors would be named as ruler. From them on, his descendants were expected to inherit the ruler's power. This is a practice that has been going on until today. However, Paine considers this to be a mistaken practice, as no person deserves any sort of honors that belonged to his descendants.