A Serious Thought
Thomas Paine
[This article appeared in the Pennsylvania
Journal, 18 October, 1775. Paine's comments are viewed by most
historians as the earliest written expression of the coming
Declaration of Independence]
When I reflect on the horrid cruelties exercised by Britain in the
East Indies—How thousands perished by artificial famine—How
religion and every manly principle of honour and honesty were
sacrificed to luxury and pride—When I read of the wretched
natives being blown away, for no other crime than because, sickened
with the miserable scene, they refused to fight—When I reflect
on these and a thousand instances of similar barbarity, I firmly
believe that the Almighty, in compassion to mankind, will curtail
the power of Britain. And when I reflect on the use she hath made of
the discovery of this new world—that the little paltry dignity
of earthly kings hath been set up in preference to the great cause
of the King of kings—That instead of Christian examples to the
Indians, she hath basely tampered with their passions, imposed on
their ignorance, and made them tools of treachery and murder—And
when to these and many other melancholy reflections I add this sad
remark, that ever since the discovery of America she hath employed
herself in the most horrid of all traffics, that of human flesh,
unknown to the most savage nations, hath yearly (without provocation
and in cold blood) ravaged the hapless shores of Africa, robbing it
of its unoffending inhabitants to cultivate her stolen dominions in
the West—When I reflect on these, I hesitate not for a moment
to believe that the Almighty will finally separate America from
Britain. Call it Independence or what you will, if it is the cause
of God and humanity it will go on. And when the Almighty shall have
blest us, and made us a people dependent only upon Him, then may our
first gratitude be shown by an act of continental legislation, which
shall put a stop to the importation of Negroes for sale, soften the
hard fate of those already here, and in time procure their freedom.
Humanus.
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