Image of original edition of "The American Crisis"
Another thought on Obama’s speech: I loved the reference to Washington’s crossing the Delaware:
In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: “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 (it).”
Those words were not Washington’s. They are from Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis, published in December 1776. Washington had them read to his men encamped on the Delaware on Dec. 23. It was a low point for American hopes and for the bedraggled Continental Army, which had been driven from New York and retreated across New Jersey over the preceding months. Enlistments were to expire with the old year, raising fears that in another week there wouldn’t be an army left to speak of. Yet two days later Washington brought his force across the Delaware in the sleet and launched an audacious surprise attack on the Hessian encampment in Trenton. It was a spectacular success that buoyed morale at exactly the right moment: Virtually the entire enemy force, along with its weapons and supplies, was captured; American casualties were minimal. This is one of the most inspiring stories in American history, displaying very American qualities – determination in the face of hardship, daring and improvisation. (I also took my kids to the site of Washington’s crossing last year – worth a visit.)
