Rhetorical Analysis Of Crisis No 1 By Thomas Paine

This essay will be discussing and analyzing the document: Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine was an American founding father and very influential in the the enlightenment movement that started in 1714. Thomas Paine wrote common sense so people would begin thinking and discussing the way the British had been treating the colonies in the recent years. Paine believed that King George and the British parliament were tyrannical and that the colonies should do something about it. Common Sense appealed to many of the colonists because of the plain language Thomas Paine used. Thomas paine’s Common Sense was one of the most influential documents to the American Revolution. This essay also tries to argue that without Paine’s Common Sense the

It has been said that it only takes one person, with one clear message, to change the world. In times of war, great world leaders have put this statement to the test, which each word spoken calling for an act of war or an act of peace. In Thomas Paine’s The Crisis No. 1, Paine is addressing the impending Revolutionary War, and the impending battle against General Howe. Similarly, in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, the President asks the American people to stand with him against the Japanese and join World War II. Both speeches call out to the American people to fight and protect their nation using facts and hard truths to persuade, while both Paine and Roosevelt use their own levels of personal connection and feelings

The battle for independence in America during 1776 was indeed a complex issue requiring the involvement of intellectuals to air their own views regarding the best move that British colonies could make toward gaining independence. At the time, two famous individuals, Thomas Paine and James Chalmers, appeared disagreeing to matters concerning the giant step of gaining independence from the central government in Britain. While Thomas Paine was a patriot who wrote Common Sense with the intention of enlightening Americans the greater benefit they would gain by separating from British rule, James Chalmers who wrote Plain Truth was a loyalist to the British rule and saw it as a wrong move and a beginning for a lot of problems.

In the winter of 1776, during American Revolution, the still young America faced three major dilemmas: their seemingly imminent defeat, the moral debate between the Whigs and the British loyalists, and the panic and confusion of the American public. In efforts to settle the three American dilemmas, Thomas Paine wrote The Crisis No. 1 in December of 1776. In his work, Paine aimed to calm the American public and convince them to stand up to the British, and turn the war into an American victory. Paine was very successful in this, and his paper was proclaimed as one of the most persuasive works of the American Revolution. Paine’s The Crisis is so persuasive because of Paine’s use of three rhetorical devices: ethos, pathos, and logos.

One of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine, in his pamphlet, “Common Sense”, addressed a response to the American Revolution. Paine’s purpose for writing the piece was to convince the colonists to declare independence from Great Britain. He adopts a patriotic tone, explaining the advantages of and the need to proclaim independence from a tyrannical country. Paine also utilizes multiple rhetorical strategies, and any means necessary, to persuade his audience to share in his beliefs. With the use of constructed argument and rhetorical devices such as ethos, logos and pathos, as well as diction and syntax, Paine is able to present the argument that the United States should strive for its independence from England.

Would there be an America if people were not able to persuade others? During a time when America is in a war against the British fighting for its independence and had lost every battle except for one during the first year of the war, fearing that the idea of America may fail. Thomas Paine then publishes a pamphlet called The Crisis, No. 1. Regarding this, pathos was the most persuasive technique used to persuade Americans to continue on with the war in Thomas Paine’s The Crisis, No. 1.

Back in the late 1700’s and the early 1800’s young America was being attacked by Britain but the colonists were too afraid to do anything. The colonies had declared freedom from Britain but America was not free yet. One man was able to persuade the colonists with a speech. That speech was written by Thomas Paine and it was titled “Crisis No 1”; Paine used pathos to persuade the colonists to go to war by appealing to their emotions with loaded words; an example of these loaded words is God.

In his document, The Crisis, Number 1, Thomas Paine argues that the American colonists should go and fight for the freedom that they want. Thomas Paine supports this cause by explaining to the colonists that they should have that same mind set no matter what it is. Paine’s purpose is to persuade with emotion in order to get the colonists to feel the need to go and fight for the freedom of the developing country against the British. Thomas Paine uses a formal tone to engage with the emotions of the colonists using rhetorical devices.

Aun: In paragraph 2, Thomas Paine tries to explain to the colonists that they have been tricked and that they had made big sacrifices only to be tricked. He says the colonists say that they have the protection of Britain, when Britain’s main motive was interest in the new land, not to attach to it. Britain did not fight for us but fought for itself with people we were at peace with. Britain gave us new enemies. Thomas explains how they should be independant and let Britain fight its own battles with France and

Written by Thomas Paine in 1791, the book “Rights of Man” soughts to describe the characteristics of America. Although he did include some accurate descriptions of America in his writing, considering the time the book was written and the fact that he was a revolutionary and a supporter of American independence, there are some descriptions that do not concur with the current-day America and some descriptions that are biased as well.

“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind” (Paine 1). With the Revolutionary War beginning in 1775, and the publication of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, only a year later, this statement was widely recognized and addressed the issue at hand: the fight for independence. According to Paine’s assertion, America’s desire for peace and freedom is a basic necessity of life; it is what all men desire. Despite this innate thirst for liberty, many residents of America’s thirteen colonies were fearful of Great Britain, and because of this fear, complied with Great Britain’s every whim. Consequently, most colonists were hesitant to fight against the mother country for independence. But Paine would not accept this attitude.

Thomas Paine, a local pamphleteer in the pre-Revolutionary War era, wrote a convincing pamphlet to any colonists who were not already supporting the war for independence from Great Britain. In his argument, Paine uses rhetorical strategy, an emotional aspect, and divine revelation towards the citizens to create a very moving, passionate, and convincing call to arms.

In this next paragraph Thomas Paine talks about a summer soldier explaining that we need people to fight for the right fight in the worst of times. He goes on to talk about Joan of Arc using her as a symbol of honor, liberty, and dignity. He tries using these examples as a way of telling the people that we need to fight and you need to be strong enough to stand against britain. Thomas Paine also talks about the flames of liberty saying this is what we need to fight for. He also talks about the powers of hell and that they are limmeted sygnifying that britain is not an unstopable

The revolutionary speeches composed of by Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine both have common goals in terms of the changes that they want made to the way of life for all Americans. The technique and manner in which the two conduct their speeches are significantly different, though. Patrick Henry’s speech is mainly to persuade the Virginia Convention to be more assertive toward the British government, and to prepare for war if the convention's voice was not acknowledged by them. Thomas Paine’s speech, “The Crisis: Number 1”, was also to written to persuade the American people. The speech’s main purpose is to persuade people to fight for their freedom.

Paine, Thomas, and Sidney Hook. Common Sense: The Rights of Man, and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine. New York: Penguin, 1984. Print.