Letters from an American December 18, 2025 Heather Cox Richardson Dec 18, 2025
“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 their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
These were the first lines in a pamphlet that appeared in Philadelphia on December 19, 1776, at a time when the fortunes of the American patriots seemed at an all-time low. Just five months before, the members of the Second Continental Congress had adopted the Declaration of Independence, explaining to the world that “the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled…do…solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved.”
The nation’s founders went on to explain why it was necessary for them “to dissolve the political bands” which had connected them to the British crown.
They explained that their vision of human government was different from that of Great Britain. In contrast to the tradition of hereditary monarchy under which the American colonies had been organized, the representatives of the united states on the North American continent believed in a government organized according to the principles of natural law.
Such a government rested on the “self-evident” concept “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Governments were created to protect those rights and, rather than deserving loyalty because of tradition, religion, or heritage, they were legitimate only if those they governed consented to them. And the American colonists no longer consented to be governed by the British monarchy.
This new vision of human government was an exciting thing to declare in the heat of a Philadelphia summer after a year of skirmishing between the colonists and British regulars, but by December 1776, enthusiasm for this daring new experiment was ebbing. Shortly after colonists had cheered news of independence in July as local leaders read copies of the Continental Congress’s declaration in meetinghouses and taverns in cities and small towns throughout the colonies, the British moved on General George Washington and the troops in New York City.
By September the British had forced Washington and his soldiers to retreat from the city, and after a series of punishing skirmishes across Manhattan Island, by November the Redcoats had pushed the Americans into New Jersey. They chased the Continental Army all the way across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.
By mid-December, things looked bleak for the Continental Army and the revolutionary government it backed. The 5,000 soldiers with Washington who were still able to fight were demoralized from their repeated losses and retreats, and since the Continental Congress had kept enlistments short so as not to risk a standing army, many of the men would be free to leave the army at the end of the year, further weakening it.
As the British troops had taken over New York City and the Continental soldiers had retreated, many of the newly minted Americans outside the army were also having doubts about the whole enterprise of creating a new, independent nation based on the idea that all men were created equal. Then things got worse: as the American soldiers crossed into Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress abandoned Philadelphia on December 12 out of fear of a British invasion, regrouping in Baltimore (which they complained was dirty and expensive).
“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
The author of The American Crisis was Thomas Paine, whose January 1776 pamphlet Common Sense had solidified the colonists’ irritation at the king’s ministers into a rejection of monarchy itself, a rejection not just of King George III, but of all kings. In early 1776, Paine had told the fledgling Americans, many of whom still prayed for a return to the comfortable neglect they had enjoyed from the British government before 1763, that the colonies must form their own independent government.
Now he urged them to see the experiment through. He explained that he had been with the troops as they retreated across New Jersey and, describing the march for his readers, told them “that both officers and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long retreat, bore it with a manly and martial spirit. All their wishes centred in one, which was, that the country would turn out and help them to drive the enemy back.”
For that was the crux of it. Paine had no doubt that patriots would create a new nation, eventually, because the cause of human self-determination was just. But how long it took to establish that new nation would depend on how much effort people put into success. “I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake,” Paine wrote. “Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.”
In mid-December, British commander General William Howe had sent most of his soldiers back to New York to spend the winter, leaving garrisons across the river in New Jersey to guard against Washington advancing.
On Christmas night, having heard that the garrison at Trenton was made up of Hessian auxiliaries who were exhausted and unprepared for an attack, Washington and 2,400 soldiers crossed back over the icy Delaware River in a winter storm. They marched nine miles to attack the garrison, the underdressed soldiers suffering from the cold and freezing rain. Reaching Trenton, they surprised the outnumbered Hessians, who fought briefly in the streets before surrendering.
The victory at Trenton restored the colonists’ confidence in their cause. Soldiers reenlisted, and in early January they surprised the British at Princeton, New Jersey, driving them back. The British abandoned their posts in central New Jersey, and by March the Continental Congress moved back to Philadelphia. Historians credit the Battles of Trenton and Princeton with saving the Revolutionary cause.
There is no hard proof that Washington had officers read The American Crisis to his troops when it came out six days before the march to Trenton, as some writers have said, but there is little doubt they heard it one way or another. So, too, did those wavering loyalists.
“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered,” Paine wrote in that fraught moment, “yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”
'Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered...' RESIST!
Reminds me of when...
Posted by Skye on December 19, 2025, 11:24 pm, in reply to "Such great words"
we hiked the Grand Canyon many years ago, from the top to the bottom and then back up the next day, except that it was in the heat of the summer instead of the cold of winter. It was 114 degrees at the bottom of the canyon. There was someone there I remember saying, "The harder the toil, the sweeter the rest." We hiked with our backpacks and water canteens 7 miles on the way down, and then 10 miles on a different trail back up the next morning. I had a red t-shirt on that looked like a tie-dye shirt when I emerged to the top the next day, with the white salt stains from my sweat. Considering that I was walking on a fairly recent injury to my left foot that was supposed to have rendered me permanently disabled, that was a great feeling of accomplishment when I emerged out of that canyon.
But of course, that was a small task compared to the challenge we have before us now. We must unite and overcome the nefarious demons before us now.
Wow, tough hike!
Posted by greenman on December 20, 2025, 1:13 pm, in reply to "Reminds me of when..." Valued Poster
I've read Tony Hillerman talking about the Canyon, how hot it is further down, how tough the hike can be, and how dangerous sudden rains can be (flash floods!). A beautiful, but treacherous place.
America faces a tough climb indeed! RESIST!
And BTW….
Posted by Skye on December 20, 2025, 5:11 pm, in reply to "Wow, tough hike!" Valued Poster
I love this country too much to stand by and let a psycho maniac like dt ruin it. He would probably try to erect a monument to himself there, too!
We will resist!
Indeed
Posted by Skye on December 20, 2025, 5:05 pm, in reply to "Wow, tough hike!" Valued Poster
It was August when we did that… very hot at the bottom. We spent the night at Phantom Ranch in a bunkhouse. When we crossed the footbridge over the Colorado River, we could hear the boulders being moved by the current. We cooled off in some smaller streams, and fed the deer some of our trail mix from our hand. Such beauty all around. Donkeys on the trails, too, carrying things in and out. Anything you bring into the canyon, you have to pack it out. We had packed some Dinty Moore beef stew that we warmed up with a sterno burner that evening, and some tapioca pudding cups. We did have a big breakfast in the mess hall before heading out the next morning. Good memories. Today you would probably have to make a reservation more than a year out to do what we did. Thought about doing the river rafting trip through the canyon, but don’t know if we will ever do that. You never know about us, though… we could get a hairbrained idea, even at our age.
I never did that
Posted by Pikes Peak 14115 on December 20, 2025, 5:55 pm, in reply to "Indeed" ADMIN
But I know well the toll 6000 vertical feet of altitude gain or loss in a day is like. In that heat it would be something else.
Felontrump's rebranding by sycophantic committee not only won't be permanent, or last very long, but WE do not have to adopt any of it.
The Kennedy Center remains that in spite of the sycophantic board felon appointed after he FIRED the Kennedy Center board and staff. Same committee is eyeing the White House with intent to rebrand it The Trump House once his bawlroom is built.
Remember the last big "entertainment center" the felon built? Taj Mahal Casino. Where is it now? What happened to it? I see this bawlroom as his effort to rebuild and redeem his MAGA Casino. Ideas he can't leave or let go get stuck in his brain cell. His retribution against his enemies is display of the same mental illness.
When obsessively deranged at rallies, he speaks in third person character using a stupid sounding little mockery voice in ways he WISHED people addressed him. "Sir..." and then he goes off in some weirdly voiced third person spoken admiration of him. Nobody really does that. Not even Leavitt. It's the way he WISHED people would address him. He may believe it, which makes him more acutely mentally ill than many believe.
Whatever he has built will be torn down. Remember my gold T? You saw it before. I bought that from the last bankruptcy sale in 2016.
Chunks of Berlin Wall were sold to pay for demolition. I suspect chunks of the ballroom may be sold as well, to pay for demolition and keepsake reminders of the hell through which he, MAGA and his corrupt SCOTUS put us.
Once rid of him, we must fix SCOTUS. They can be impeached. Easy to prove how they based decisions on alleged Federalist papers rather than the clear and precise simple language of the US Constitution.
Of course that will be a fight. If Democrats can put dynamic people in positions of power, and do good for American people, they have a good change. Hakeem Jeffries isn't it. He's a mondale, a dukakis, a garland. Pritzker, Newsom, Crockett, Raskin are informed, inspirational firebrands who have felon's and MAGA's number.
Did you watch Crockett eviscerate Johnson Biblically when he attacked her "Christianity?" He was so angry, he shut the conversation down and walked out.
Johnson is a picker.
Saved on my phone You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
Two things...
Posted by Skye on December 21, 2025, 12:07 am, in reply to "I never did that"
I found this on that exchange between Crockett and Johnson where he questioned her faith and knowledge of biblical scripture. Big mistake on his part! Bravo for her.
Also found this on HCR's response to trump's speech Wednesday night and other subjects. Also excellent. I wish these two women would team up on a presidential ticket. I'd say it's about time to give women a chance at that job, and I don't know why not. We have certainly given men enough chances, and look where we are.
Here's another...
Posted by Skye on December 21, 2025, 3:21 pm, in reply to "Two things..." Valued Poster
with Jasmine Crockett. This girl is a warrior for justice.
on December 19, 2025, 5:31 pm
