The American Revolutionary War and The Crisis

              After writing Common Sense and igniting the fuel in the American’s fight for freedom, Thomas Paine decided to join the army to show his patriotism. In the army Paine showed his spirit and dedication to gain freedom and win the war, but it wasn’t his encouragements that gave the soldiers hope to win the war. Instead it was Paine’s writings that inspired the soldiers. During his time serving in the war, Thomas Paine wrote a series of pamphlets between December 1776 and April 1783 called The American Crisis. In The Crisis he recorded the war in detail from what he experienced in the frontline, which informed the public of what occurred in the battles. He also wrote his thoughts on the war and stressed the importance of unity of the colonies which became very inspirational to the soldiers and public alike. The Crisis was so inspiring that George Washington had it read to all of his soldiers before crossing the Delaware River and seizing the enemy. This attack on Christmas night in 1776 left the enemy baffled and became a turning point during the war. When Paine wrote these series he sold them but made very little profit from them. They were very popular among the soldiers because of the encouragement they received from them but not so much from the general public. Even so Paine still continued to write The Crisis until the end of the war and ended up with 13 series and three extra articles. He showed his determination of wanting to make America a free country from England or any other nation. In his last article Paine congratulated the colonies for their ability to unite and stated that "It was the cause of America that made me an author." He thanked the Americans for their support to him and allowing him to write The American Crisis series.

Works Cited

Alison. "Thomas Paine's Influence on the American Revolution." The Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Connecticut Sons of the American Revolution, 2000. Web. 3 Oct 2012. <http://www.connecticutsar.org/patriots/paine_thomas.htm>.

Silver, Mae. "Thomas Paine: An American Patriot." New Jersey Press Foundation. New Jersey Newspaper Foundation, 2007. Web. 3 Oct 2012. <http://www.njreadforlife.org/painetext3.html>.

-Ana Juan