Reflection- Thomas Paine

In the writing of Thomas Paine, he is addressing the revolution to the colonists in America.  His passage of  The Crisis, No. 1, there was one passage that especially made me believe this: "These are the times that try men's souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of a 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."  This is the very first paragraph Thomas Paine wrote in The Crisis, No. 1.  Thomas Paine makes an excellent point.  He is trying to get the point across that the Revolutionary War is most definitely worth fighting for, and people should not be afraid of it.  Yes, wars are extremely dangerous, expensive, and inconvenient, but the cause of the war makes it worth it.  He is asking the colonists to consider what could happen and what the consequences would be if they fought a war to gain their independence from England.  Not all consequences have to be negative.  He wants them to think about the positives that would happen.  If the Americans were no longer under the English thumb, think of all of the differences that would happen and make their lives so much better.  The English would no longer be able to control every little thing that the Americans do.  This would include taxes, and their control over their imports and exports.  Thomas Paine is trying to convince the people of America that if they fought a war against England, it would be very much worth it in the end.  I can imagine that it would be very hard to fight a war if the citizens were one of two things: either unaware of both the negative and the positive consequences (which Thomas Paine is attempting to portray in his passage The Crisis, No. 1), or is not on board with the idea of fighting against the country of their ancestors.  Thomas Paine compares the way England was treating the colonies with that of slavery and tyranny.  "Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but to 'bind us in all cases whatsoever'."  Paine is trying to explain that England really had no right to claim any superiority over any of the colonies, or America as a whole.  At this point in time, the colonists had been in America for around two-hundred years.  Until England started to get in other wars with difference countries, they literally paid no attention to anything going on in America.  This was called Salutary Neglect.  When England got out of the Seven Years War, they were heavily in debt.  The taxes, as well as the complete control over their trading of imports and exports, were used as revenue to help pay England's massive debt.  Because of this, Thomas Paine supports his opinions that a war for their independence would be extremely beneficial.