The American Crisis | Page 5

Commander was read to groups of
his dispirited and suffering soldiers. Its opening sentence was adopted as the watchword
of the movement on Trenton, a few days after its publication, and is believed to have
inspired much of the courage which won that victory, which, though not imposing in
extent, was of great moral effect on Washington's little army.

THE CRISIS
I.

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 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 obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only
that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods;
and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be
highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a
right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER," and if being
bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth.
Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I
will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight
months earlier, it would have been much better. We did not make a proper use of last
winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state. However, the fault, if it
were one, was all our own*; we have none to blame but ourselves. But no great deal is
lost yet. All that Howe has been doing for this month past, is rather a ravage than a
conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and
which time and a little resolution will soon recover.
* The present winter is worth an age, if rightly employed; but, if lost or neglected, the
whole continent will partake of the evil; and there is no punishment that man does not
deserve, be he who, or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a
season so precious and useful.
I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been,
and still is, 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. Neither have I
so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the government of
the world, and given us up to the care of devils; and as I do not, I cannot see on what
grounds the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: a common
murderer, a highwayman, or a house-breaker, has as good a pretence as he.
'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All
nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the
report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth [fifteenth] century
the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men
petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected
and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid
to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and
ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as
hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a
firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of
sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have
lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an

imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden
thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a disguised Tory has
lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which
Howe arrived upon the Delaware.
As I was with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with them to the edge of Pennsylvania,
I am well acquainted