Thomas Paine’s motivational pamphlet “The American Crisis” was effective for common colonialists in the 1770s and 1780s because it emotionally appealed to unity and religious faith through euphony, analogy, and rhetorical question, which convince readers to fight against England for independence. He argued that since God supported them and this would overcome the physically powerful British army, the colonies had to protect themselves against the oppression that he claimed Britain was unfairly instilling on them. His evidence and logic are effective throughout the pamphlet, but small choices in words and phrase structure also support his ideas by creating euphony to side with God and simplify his meaning for uneducated and busy readers through
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This meant he had to strongly align the colonies with God so readers would agree that this outweighed the physical power of Britain’s army. While he did not use quotes from the Bible, he imitated Biblical language when he explained that “I do not, I cannot see on what ground the king of Britain can look up to Heaven for help against us” (Paine, para 2) because the colonies had repeatedly attempted peaceful conclusion and faced rejection from Britain. He makes a strong argument by using the past actions of the colonies and Britain as factual evidence, which builds trust in him as a writer since readers generally knew about these events. Paine also uses euphonic language in the phrase “I do not, I cannot” (Paine, para 2), which gave his writing a tone of moral superiority for various reasons; firstly, it was similar to language in the Bible as in the phrase “look up to Heaven” and similarly euphonic phrases. This creates an association in the reader’s mind between Paine’s writing and the Bible, which develops trust in him because of the more prominent religious influence at the time. Secondly, the style associates him with God …show more content…
Throughout the pamphlet, he used various types of euphonic language to align himself with God through beauty and occasionally used somewhat Biblical language when discussing the role of God in his claim, all of which effectively appealed to a religious audience. He demonstrated why the colonies ought to rebel against Britain initially through analogy rather than political discussion to effectively communicate with uneducated individuals, and beseeched all individuals to participate by drawing their attention and appealing emotionally through parallelism of phrase. In conclusion, Paine considered various qualities of his audience when writing “The American Crisis” and addressed them all in a limited amount of space and time they would take to read it, and he helped drive one of the most well-known revolutions in
This meant he had to strongly align the colonies with God so readers would agree that this outweighed the physical power of Britain’s army. While he did not use quotes from the Bible, he imitated Biblical language when he explained that “I do not, I cannot see on what ground the king of Britain can look up to Heaven for help against us” (Paine, para 2) because the colonies had repeatedly attempted peaceful conclusion and faced rejection from Britain. He makes a strong argument by using the past actions of the colonies and Britain as factual evidence, which builds trust in him as a writer since readers generally knew about these events. Paine also uses euphonic language in the phrase “I do not, I cannot” (Paine, para 2), which gave his writing a tone of moral superiority for various reasons; firstly, it was similar to language in the Bible as in the phrase “look up to Heaven” and similarly euphonic phrases. This creates an association in the reader’s mind between Paine’s writing and the Bible, which develops trust in him because of the more prominent religious influence at the time. Secondly, the style associates him with God …show more content…
Throughout the pamphlet, he used various types of euphonic language to align himself with God through beauty and occasionally used somewhat Biblical language when discussing the role of God in his claim, all of which effectively appealed to a religious audience. He demonstrated why the colonies ought to rebel against Britain initially through analogy rather than political discussion to effectively communicate with uneducated individuals, and beseeched all individuals to participate by drawing their attention and appealing emotionally through parallelism of phrase. In conclusion, Paine considered various qualities of his audience when writing “The American Crisis” and addressed them all in a limited amount of space and time they would take to read it, and he helped drive one of the most well-known revolutions in