Classwork (12-9-14): Paine’s essay provides a glimpse of the uncertainties and doubts that were present in the mind’s of the defeated soldiers of the Continental Army. Many of Paine’s assertions and statements indirectly reveal the true feelings and attitudes of the men he is addressing. For example, the first two lines of “The Crisis,” “These are times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country...” reveal Paine’s awareness that the men are completely demoralized by their defeat and are contemplating desertion from the army. Discuss what the following statements by Paine reveal about the soldiers thoughts or feeling and explain how Paine’s statements function to motivate them.
a. “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 ..”
b. “Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is
remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade
with them.”
c. “Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me
to support an offensive war, for I think it murder...”
d. “The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice who shrinks back at a time when little might have saved the whole, and made them happy.”
Classwork (12-9-14): Paine’s essay provides a glimpse of the uncertainties and doubts that were present in the mind’s of the defeated soldiers of the Continental Army. Many of Paine’s assertions and statements indirectly reveal the true feelings and attitudes of the men he is addressing. For example, the first two lines of “The Crisis,” “These are times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country...” reveal Paine’s awareness that the men are completely demoralized by their defeat and are contemplating desertion from the army. Discuss what the following statements by Paine reveal about the soldiers thoughts or feeling and explain how Paine’s statements function to motivate them.
a. “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 ..”
b. “Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is
remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade
with them.”
c. “Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me
to support an offensive war, for I think it murder...”
d. “The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice who shrinks back
at a time when little might have saved the whole, and made them happy.”
Classwork (12-9-14): Paine’s essay provides a glimpse of the uncertainties and doubts that were present in the mind’s of the defeated soldiers of the Continental Army. Many of Paine’s assertions and statements indirectly reveal the true feelings and attitudes of the men he is addressing. For example, the first two lines of “The Crisis,” “These are times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country...” reveal Paine’s awareness that the men are completely demoralized by their defeat and are contemplating desertion from the army. Discuss what the following statements by Paine reveal about the soldiers thoughts or feeling and explain how Paine’s statements function to motivate them.
a. “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 ..”
b. “Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is
remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade
with them.”
c. “Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me
to support an offensive war, for I think it murder...”
d. “The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice who shrinks back
at a time when little might have saved the whole, and made them happy.”