Thomas Paine: The Crisis, No. 4

After the phenomenal success of Common Sense in aligning popular American opinion with the cause of the Revolution, Thomas Paine became the unofficial propagandist of the new nation. He spent the campaigning season of 1776 with George Washington’s army in New York and New Jersey, writing articles meant to prop up public support for the rebellion despite the series of unmitigated military disasters Washington suffered that year. At what seemed the lowest point of American military fortunes, Paine published the first issue of The Crisis, also known as The American Crisis, a pamphlet that was read out to Washington’s army prior to the crossing of the Delaware and the vital American success at the Battle of Trenton. The next year Paine was employed writing the correspondence between the Continental Congress and Benjamin Franklin, who was serving as American ambassador in Paris. On September 11, 1777, the British won the Battle of the Brandywine south of Philadelphia, and Paine worked through the night to bring out The Crisis, No. 4 to buoy up the American spirit and advise Americans not to abandon the Revolution in the face of the inevitable capture of the capital. After this early stage of the war, the American military position was never again so grim, but Paine produced thirteen issues of The Crisis throughout the war years. These pamphlets were published at irregular intervals and supplemented and highlighted his regular journalistic writing.