This is the sixth in a series.
America in its history has suffered many crises; the Civil War and the Great Depression threatened its very existence. But there never would have been a nation if it had not survived the darkest hours of December 1776.
One of the men who helped lead the country back from the brink did so with a pen. Thomas Paine had already helped to rally the people in support of independence with his pamphlet “Common Sense.” Once it had been declared, he took up a musket to fight for it.
He later reflected on his time with the army, saying, “I knew the time when I thought the whistling of a cannonball would have frightened me almost to death, but I have since tried it, and find that I can stand it with as little discomposure as any man.”
A fellow veteran wasn’t so kind: “Paine may be a good philosopher, but he is not a soldier, he always kept out of danger.”
Thomas Paine would never become a war hero, but he was part of the army that the British had chased across New Jersey. As he retreated with it, he began to write, attempting to put a brave face on a military disaster.
“I shall not now attempt to give all the particulars of our retreat to the Delaware, suffice it for the present to say, that both officers and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long retreat, bore it with a manly and martial spirit. All their wishes centered on one, which was, that the country would turn out and help them to drive the enemy back. Voltaire has remarked that King William never appeared to full advantage, but in difficulties and in action, the same remark may be made on General Washington, for his character fits him. There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude, and I reckon it among those kind of public blessings, which we do not immediately see, that God had blessed him with uninterrupted health, and given him a mind that can even flourish upon care.”
If the misfortunes of the war cannot be blamed on Washington, then who?
“Why is it that the enemy have left the New England provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of the war? The answer is easy, New England is not infested with Tories, and we are. I have been tender in raising the cry against these men, and used numberless arguments to show them their danger, but it will not do to suffice a world either to their folly or their baseness. The period is now arrived, in which either they or we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall. And what is a Tory? Good God! What is he? I should not be afraid to go with a hundred Whigs against a thousand Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. Every Tory is a coward, for servile, slavish, self-interested, fear is the foundation of Toryism, and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.”
As the British entered New Jersey, there had been a Loyalist uprising in Monmouth County, and hundreds had accepted British General Howe’s pardon. To them Paine wrote, “Your conduct is an invitation to the enemy, yet not one in a thousand of you has heart enough to join him. Howe is as much deceived by you as the American cause is injured by you, he expects you will all take up arms, and flock to his standard, with muskets on your shoulders. Your opinions are of no use to him, unless you support him personally, for ’tis soldiers, and not Tories, that he wants.”
Paine then recounted an incident.
“I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, ‘Well! Give me peace in my day.’ Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must sometime or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, ‘If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, and that my child have peace,’ and this reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to his duty. Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America.”
Paine closed his arguments, saying “This is our situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue, by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils, a ravaged country, a depopulated city, inhabitants without safety, and slavery without hope, our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians, and a future race to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it! And if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented.”
Once across the Delaware River, Paine received permission to go to Philadelphia to have his writings published under the title “The American Crisis.”
The where and when he wrote the opening paragraph is not clear, but on Dec. 23, 1776, one of the most famous openings ever to be printed began with “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 their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtained too cheap, we esteemed too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. ”
Few people have read the entire pamphlet, but many can quote the opening. Whether it was after Pearl Harbor or Sept. 11, Paine’s words from 250 years ago still ring out to give hope in the darkest of times.
Next Week: Turning the Tables.
