#OnThisDay in National Historic Landmarks history, December 19, 1776: Thomas Paine publishes American Crisis which begins with the following lines, These are the times that try mens souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his 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. General George Washingtons troops were encamped on the Delaware River when these phrases first appeared in print during the American Revolution. They had since suffered humiliating defeats, but having heard Paines rousing prose they were able to muster their remaining hopes for victory. Thomas Paine, pamphleteer and propagandist extraordinaire for both the American and French revolutions, first came to attention when he published Common Sense in January 1776. In his work, Paine urged the American colonies to unite against Britain, and he practiced what he preached by enlisting in the Continental army. With the outbreak of the French Revolution, he became a self-appointed missionary of world revolution. His Rights of Man and The Age of Reason, published in the 1790s, were further expressions of his beliefs. Paine spent the last years seven years of his life, from 1802 until 1809, at this farm that the State of New York had given him. His cottage in New Rochelle, New York, is a National Historic Landmark and is open as a historic house museum.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 12:30:00 +0000
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