Case Study: The Times that Try Men's Souls
Let’s take a closer look at rhetorical situation by considering another example of rhetoric, this time from an early American text. At the end of 1776, the second year of the American Revolution, George Washington’s Continental Army appeared to be on its last legs. After a series of disastrous defeats around New York through the fall, the dispirited army retreated across New Jersey, vainly hoping for reinforcements from local militia. By the time he crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania in mid-December, Washington had fewer than 5,000 hungry, ill-clothed troops, many of whom planned to go home when their enlistments expired at the end of the year. The American Crisis
Traveling with the army in its retreat was the journalist Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet Common Sense had helped spur Americans to declare independence that summer. Now, with morale among weary revolutionaries at its lowest ebb, and people across the state rushing to declare their loyalty to British General Howe, Paine knew that the patriot cause needed a rallying cry. His response was “The American Crisis,” a fiery discourse that begins with a famous phrase that makes virtue out of hardship: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Paine’s essay argues that any cause worth fighting for should be difficult, and that “sunshine patriots” who quit in hard times were not worth regretting. He describes the army’s long retreat as orderly and deliberate, and urges readers to stand with the Continentals, who are regrouping and gathering strength for the new year. On December 23, Washington ordered the the newly published pamphlet to be read to the assembled troops. Two nights later his battered little army recrossed the icy Delaware to spring a daring surprise raid on Howe’s troops encamped at Trenton. The patriot cause was still alive. Assignment
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