Thomas Paine was a political writer who fervently supported the American Revolution. In this excerpt from his popular work Common Sense, Paine uses an analogy to refute a common Loyalist claim. The first king of England, of the present line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the peers of England are descendants from the same country; wherefore, by the same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. Which claim has Paine refuted?
