| The revolution in France was viewed with great interest and debate around the world, particularly by the European countries. The European monarchs had watched and even assisted with the establishment of a great new republic when the American colonists broke with England. Yet, although a breach was made with England, the Americans were located across the Atlantic and were not a true threat to the European traditions of law and government. For while the Americans first established modern democracy, the French made it a militant creed and set into action those revolutionary forces -- democracy and nationalism -- that were to change the face of Europe and the world for decades to come. |
Much of the English debate centered around Edmund Burke, noted British statesman and political writer. In November 1790, he wrote Reflections on the Revolution in France, a work which was enormously popular and went through eleven editions in little more than a year. Burke's anti-revolution stance was challenged by, amongst others, Thomas Paine in the Rights of Man. |
This reprint of Thomas Paine's response to Burke contains a manuscript transcribing the inscription as well as a broadside entitled "An Eulogy on the Immortal Paine." |