American Political History
The full story of this country, told through the people who lived it. From the soldier in the mud to the statesman at the table. Chronological, self-contained seasons, built on the primary sources. New episodes Tuesdays and Thursday.
American Political History
The Glorious Cause - The Times That Try Men’s Souls
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By December of 1776, the American Revolution was all but over. George Washington’s army had been chased the length of New Jersey and now huddled, a few thousand ragged and freezing men, on the far bank of the Delaware — and at month’s end their enlistments would expire and the army would simply dissolve. The Congress had fled Philadelphia. New Jersey was signing the King’s loyalty oath by the thousands. The army’s ablest general had been captured in his dressing gown. Washington confided to his brother that “the game is pretty near up.”
This is the story of the darkest hour of the Revolution, and of the failed corset-maker turned pamphleteer who met it with nothing but words. Thomas Paine — the immigrant whose Common Sense had launched independence in January — marched with the beaten army through the mud, walked thirty-five miles to a panicked Philadelphia, and sat down to write the essay that put fire back into a dying cause: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Washington had it read aloud to his freezing men, and then chose a password of three words — Victory or Death.