Thomas Paine on the relation between Republican constitutionalism and democracy

Thomas Paine is to be best understood as a radical liberal thinker, not as classical liberal of the eighteenth century, due to his unwavering support for the republican revolutions of his age. In this study, it is argued that Paine's radical liberalism radicalism originates in his republicanism. Paine's departure from classical liberalism will be examined through British Whig tradition and, more specifically, through a comparison with John Locke. The primary aim of this comparison is to elucidate the fundamental principles of Paine's political thought and thereby highlight his significance within modern political philosophy. A secondary aim is to explore how Paine reinterprets key concepts of classical liberalism—such as human nature, equality, property, and representative government—that had emerged in early modernity. While Locke systematically addressees these concepts in his Second Treatise of Government, Paine reconfigures them in a markedly different and revolutionary manner in Common Sense and Rights of Man. Understanding these differences contributes to clarifying the radical dimension of Paine's liberalism. Within Paine's republican liberalism, liberalism requires the mediation of republic before entering a relation with democracy. His political thought, therefore, should be read not as a defence of liberal democracy, but rather as a defence of democratic republicanism. Keywords: Paine, Locke, liberalism, republicanism, representative government