A classic work of The Age of Enlightenment, "The Rights of Man" is Thomas Paine"s response to Edmund Burke"s "Reflections on the Revolution in France". Central to the theme of "The Rights of Man" and The Age of Enlightenment is the idea that reason should be the foundation of authority and government. A classic work of early American literature, "The Rights of Man" greatly exemplifies the philosophy that America was founded upon.