But where says some is the King of America? I’ll tell you friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter [Magna Carta]; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.[1]
Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)
[1] Thomas Paine, Common Sense and The American Crisis I, Intro. by Richard Beeman (New York: Penguin, 2015), p. 45.
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