Where Did Royalty Come From and Where Did It Go?

Chapter 10.4: The Beginning and End of an Error

Chapter 10.4:

• Where did it come from?

• Where did it go?

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.

—Dennis the Peasant

Where did it come from?

How did humankind get to the point where it was generally believed that some people had been born to rule over other people?

In 1776, Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense roared onto the Colonial scene like a crack of thunder, its rumblings echoing in taverns and farmhouses across the land. Though aspects of Paine’s philosophy gave some of the other American founders pause, the work was like rocket fuel to the revolutionary cause.

Paine was arguably at his most persuasive when he was railing against monarchy, and Common Sense’s assault on the concept of fixed hereditary class likely contributed to its popularity, especially among “average” American colonists. Developments over the previous two centuries had set in motion the process by which hereditary rule would meet its end across the West, and the philosophical justifications for this change were in the air. Paine’s persuasive writing gave them a powerful voice: