Question

In the essay "The Crisis, No.1," what ideas or events does Paine use to persuade his audience that the American colonies should seek independence? Use textual evidence to support your response. Your response should be one to two paragraphs in length.

Answer 1

Thomas Paine began the essay with a plea to his audience to not lose their courage in the "trying times" they were in. He associated British rule in the American colonies with tyranny, which must be resisted despite the cost. He cautioned that time was of the essence in pursuing an outright struggle for independence.

He balanced the difficulty of the situation with the realistic hope of victory if the American forces planned well and utilized their resources efficiently. Paine also used the idea of religion to persuade his largely religious audience, suggesting British rule might lead to the loss of the religious freedom that the colonists had enjoyed until that time. He advised that the British government was trying to usurp powers that belonged to God alone and expressed the belief that Americans would receive divine assistance in their struggle:

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.

He used powerful metaphors throughout the text to depict the state of America. He concluded with an expression of hope and confidence in the success of the American colonists' cause: "By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue…"

Step-by-step explanation:

plato/edmentum

Answer 2

Step-by-step explanation:

To begin the essay, Thomas Paine gives a "pep-talk" to his fellow Americans that they shouldn't give up their cause of eradicating living under British rule during the "trying times" he alludes to. Ideas he uses to persuade his audience to revolt are that the British King is a tyrant and they can overcome their challenges no matter what they cost because the reward will be the greatest. He believed that the people where fighting in a war that will go down as historical (which it did). He believes that time was the most important part of their fight against the British. He believed there was hope of winning if American forces planned well and utilized their resources efficiently. By adding that Britian will try to oppress the peoples religious freedom was probably what got the most emotion out of the people because religion was so important to them, saying to subdue was a power that belongs "only to God."

He continues with events like "When William the Conqueror subdued England he gave them law at the point of the sword; and until we consent that the seat of government in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian,.." The purpose of the annecdotal was to show that if this continues they will lose their freedom to tyrants (the British). He also alludes to past years under British rule saying "I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the house?" In this anecdotal appeal; he refers to events that have occurred in the recent past to appeal to his readers' emotions and remind them of how they have been negatively affected by the British government.