se, and that he
sketched therein the outlines in the same order in which they afterward
appeared. I have shown its architecture and plan, and also its style,
to be that of Mr. Paine's, and not Mr. Jefferson's. I have shown this
somewhat in detail, but not more than the subject demanded. Herein I
have given the grand outlines and general features, but I shall now
review the whole, to point out its special characteristics, that, in the
multitude of small things all tending one way, it will be made
conclusive to the mind of the reader that it is Mr. Paine's, and not
Jefferson's. In this I shall be compelled, some times, to refer to
propositions already proven in the first part of this work, to shorten
the argument, not wishing to go over the same ground twice. In the
demonstration of a theorem in geometry, what has been proven is made to
aid what shall come after. I shall proceed with the same method, and not
be guilty of taking any thing which Mr. Paine may have written
afterward, to prove something which has gone before. But mental
_characteristics_ may be taken wherever we can find them. I am confined
to Common Sense, and shall use also Junius as aiding, but never to
_entirely_ prove a point. In my references to Common Sense, I shall be
compelled to refer to the page. I use the political works of Mr. Paine
as published by J. P. Mendum, Boston, as they are most generally known
and read in this country. With these explanations, the reader can not go
wrong.

* * * * *

I now take up the original Declaration, beginning with the Introduction;
and, as I have numbered its paragraphs, I shall use the figures to
denote them, proceeding in their numerical order:

Paragraph 1. "Political bonds." The same figure is found on page 64,
Common Sense.

"To assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station
to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them." Here the
crowning thought is that God, through his natural laws, and by natural
proofs, designed a separation. Thus Mr. Paine, in Common Sense, page 37,
says: "The distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and
America is a strong and _natural_ proof that the authority of the one
over the other was never the design of Heaven." ... "Every thing that is
right or _natural_ pleads for separation."

Note also above the phrase, "separate and _equal_ station." The writer
of the Declaration considered England and Americ