In 1776, when Thomas Paine wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls" (The American Crisis, number 1), he put into words the sentiments of all who believed in the cause of the American Revolution. Despite a resounding declaration of independence from Great Britain that summer, December found the army of the American colonies under George Washington cold, bitter, hungry, and deeply depressed. The army's numbers were dwindling, and the enemy seemed to grow in power.

Paine's clear, simple prose not only expressed what many Americans felt, but it also gave them reason for hope: "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country, but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more...