An Illustrated History of the USA

ANt.wWORLII

ThomasPaine,thevoiceof

revolution

O ne o f th..: mo st influc urial voices calling fo r

Americanindependencewas thatofan English-

m an. HeW;(Sa Rep ubli cannamedT ho m as Paine,

whoimmigr atedtoAmericain 1774.

T w oyearslater.in a brilliantlywrittenp amphlet

called CommOIlSense. Painebecame om: o fthe

firstto persuadeAmerican stom ak ea co m p lete

b reakwithBritain ."Ever ythingthatisright o r

reaso nab le criesfo r separa tion. "h e claimed.'''T is

ti m e to part! "

eMlllIIOII S Cl/St' made Paine fam o us. It had an

enorm o us effect o n Americanopin i onandpre-

pared peo p le's minds for indepen dence. It was

read onfronncr farmsando n citystreets. Officers

life inAmerica toproducea newdefinition o f
dem o cra ticgovernment.T h isnewdefiniti onsaid
th atgovernmentsshouldconsisto f represent ati ves
elected bythepeo ple .Italso saidthatthe mainreaso n
that go vern ments ex isted wastoprotect the rightsof
individualcitizens.

rea d panso f it to theirtro o ps .GeorgeWashington

desc r ibed its arg uments as"soundand unansw er-

ab le.''

Later in 1 77 6,asWash ingt on 's discou r agedar my

retreated from the advancingBritish, Paine rallied

the Ameri can s with a n ew pamp h letcalled The

Crisis.Itswordsatestill rem em beredin times of

d ifficulty by Americans today. 'Thesearc the

tim esth at rrym en ' ssouls,"Paine wrote."The

su m me rsold ier and thesunshinepatriot will, m

th i s cri sis,shrink fro mthe serviceo f hiscount ry;

but he th at stand s/l OW deserves the lov e and

th anksofm an andwoman. "In oneo f th e d arkest

hourso f the warPaine 's wo rdshelped to save

Washin gto n 's armie s from melting away and

inspired new su ppo rters tojoin th e American

cause.

Aftersomeearlysuccesses. theAmerican sdidbadly

in thew ar againsttheBrin sh. Washington'sarmy

w asm o re of all armedmobthananeffectivefigh tin g

fo rce.Fewofthemenhad anymilitary tr ainin g an d

man yo beyed o nl yth os e ord ersrharsu itedthem.

O fficers q uarr eledconstantlyover th eir rankand

."

.-Imn;(""gOln,,1.'·"11,,,,,H eard

u ddi".1:liltlJ<-dudtionof

In.kpm<knu ,,,his" "" ps.