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The American Crisis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Crisis was a series of pamphlets published in London from 1776–1783 during the American Revolution by revolutionary author Thomas Paine. It decried British actions and Loyalists, offering support to the Patriot cause.
The first of these four pamphlets was published on December 23, 1776; the second on January 13, 1777; the third on April 19, 1777; and, the fourth and final on September 12, 1777.
The first of the pamphlets was released during a time when the Revolution still looked an unsteady prospect; the famous opening lines are:
These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
The pamphlet attempted to bolster morale and resistance among patriots, as well as shame neutrals and loyalists toward the cause:
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
Along with the patriotic nature of The American Crisis, it displayed the strong religious beliefs that provided additional rationale for a religiously and socially conservative continent, inciting the laity with suggestions that the British are trying assume powers that only the Christian God should have. Paine sees the British political and military maneuvers in America as "impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God." Paine states that he believes God supports the American cause, "that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent".
Paine takes great lengths to state that Americans do not want force, but "a proper application of that force" - implying throughout that an extended war can only lead to defeat unless a stable army was composed not of militia but of trained professionals. But Paine maintains a positive view overall, hoping that this American crisis can be quickly resolved; "For though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the embers can never expire."
