How Did Thomas Paine Use Ethos In Crisis No 1

Jefferson was trying to prove the colonists needed to break away because the King of England wasn't giving them the freedom they were fighting for. While emphasising all of the times the colonists did petition but were constantly ignored does draw people towards the issue, it is not a strong enough argument to gain the votes from thirteen states to declare

Colonial America is facing struggles from within and from the British, but are still trying to maintain neutrality. However, Patrick Henry believes in otherwise and being fed up with British actions against the colonies, expresses his thoughts in his “Speech in the Virginia Convention.” Henry is biased since he is an American and sees the British as the enemy, but this is also in a time where tensions between colonial America and Britain are rising as the colonists revolt. Patrick Henry utilizes rhetorical strategies such as rhetorical questions, antithesis, and parallelism to bring forth claims that they must go to war against Britain since all the possible ways to try to prevent war have been exhausted and ineffective.

One of the earliest well-known opponents of Great Britain was Patrick Henry. Throughout his life he gave many speeches supporting the American Government, ultimately making a name for himself. During a time of uncertainty for the colonists in 1775, Henry still supported his opinions on American Democracy. In his opinion, the only choice left was to go to war with Great Britain. In order to gain the colonist's approval, he issued a marvelous speech persuading the colonists to go to war.

As an colonist/American, Thomas Paine knows that the upcoming war will be inevitable, therefore he tries his best to persuade the other colonists to fight by logically appealing to their senses. “America did not, nor does not want force; but she wanted a proper application of that force.” (Crisis No. 1). Thomas Paine is trying to stress that America, through ways of diplomacy does not want any harm towards her/the colonists but the British will persist and in a matter of time, ready or not, America will be forced to fight. Due to there being an upcoming war, the colonists were still split on Summer time soldiers and sunny patriots, both will only fight when it's a good “weathered” situation.

“We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!” (Henry 103). This speech by Patrick Henry was delivered before the Revolutionary War in an effort to persuade the colonists to go to war immediately against Britain. Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” used logos as the most effective persuasive technique because it appealed to the reasoning of the colonists and questioned the British intentions.

The Great Thomas Paine Did you know that more people read Thomas Paine Crisis No. 1 document than the number of people who watch the Superbowl? Thomas Paines document No. 1 gained a lot of attention in the late 1700’s and is still read widely across the world. Thomas was a founding father, but he also was a political figure. He got most of his fame from writing documents about the issues in the U.S during that time. His series of documents was called “The American crisis” and it was broken up into 16 pamphlets and the most famous one was crisis No. 1.

In the American Revolution, Tories questioned giving up the stable government and protection of the British in return for an unknown American government ("Better a tyrant 3000 miles away than 1000 tyrants 3 miles away" or something like that). Fears of a possible move to remove the elite from positions of power further disquieted them. Patriots, on the other hand, approved the reasoning of Thomas Paine in Common Sense and Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and supported war with Britain in an ultimately successful effort to gain independence. 

Upon the eve of the Revolution, the colonists had spent several years growing tiresome of British rule and preparing themselves to revolt. They had become united under the goal of attaining freedom and had developed their own personality, which was different from any found in Europe. Additionally, Britain treated the colonies with disrespect, thus increasing their desire to separate themselves. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the colonists united through their desire for freedom and developed into their own people seeking freedom from an oppressive British rule. The main reason the colonists wanted to rebel was because Britain was treating them poorly and abusing them.

Thomas Paine was speaking inspiration when he said, “...if being bound in that manner, is not slavery then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. ”(153) He was speaking for the soldiers as he explained that Britain has been enslaving the colonies in so countless ways. I know that in 1773 the Boston Tea Party took place, because I was there. The Boston Tea Party is also proved, “1773- Boston Tea Party.”

He calls upon Britain’s intentions with their use of their military force in the colonies when he said, “Ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies?” Through this rhetorical question, Henry was saying that the British’s only desire for their forces in the colonies was to sustain the loyalty of the colonists toward Britain and to fetter the colonists from true freedom. One may believe that claim is true because, if losing the loyalty of the colonists wasn't a threat, the English would never have bothered to send their troops in the first place.

Thomas Paine: American Crisis Thomas Paine was an English Writer whose works thrives in the late 1700s throughout Europe and America. Paine is well known for writing pamphlets and shorter pieces of writing, and did so after a failed attempt at following in his father’s footsteps as a Quaker. Between 1776 and 1783 Paine wrote a series of pamphlets in which he titled American Crisis. These writings went on to inspire what is now our present day army. American Crisis was so popular during his time, that more people have read the series than people who have watched the Super Bowl.

Thomas Paine, born 1737 in Thetford, England, was the son of a Quaker while his mother was part of the Church of England. Paine never received a higher or secondary education like many of his contemporaries writers and political activists, but he had always been compassionate about social and public welfare. He worked a humble job as a tax collector in England, and seeing the misery of the working class first-hand, he was aching for a social and political reform. He immigrated to North America in 1774 after a few personal situations that left him seeking a new reform. His humanitarian ideals can be seen in his pamphlets, the first one being “The Case of the Officers the Excise” published in 1772.