Thomas Paine's Claims in "the American Crisis"

Thomas Paine's Claims in "The American Crisis"

By: Jesse Timmons (September/22/2013)

The claim for the first paragraph is: "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country but that stands in NOW, deserves the love and thanks of a man and woman. Paine supports this by saying: "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph". With this, he means the colonists will fight with all of their might, to beat the British to become independent. Another support Paine uses is: "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." In this support, Paine is saying that the British have said that they have total control over the colonies and that they can do as they please, but Paine believes that we must fight back against this.

I would consider "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" to be the claim that Paine uses in the second paragraph. As a support, he uses: "We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state". This support states that if the colonists had fought as a dependent state against the British, they could've made proper use of the last winter. Paine uses "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" as a support to prove his claim. With this support, Paine states that it is the colonists' fault that they didn't fight back earlier, but it isn't too late to start fighting back.

In the third paragraph, pain uses a claim and a support in the same sentence, he says: "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". This support and claim states that God is almighty, and the almighty God will support the colonist fight against the British. Thomas Paine considers the King of Britain as being a devil and that god wouldn't help the British as they cry for help against the British. He states this by saying: "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 pretence as he."

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