Determination of the Continental Army
Determination: The Patriots’ confidence had risen, and they are not going down without a fight.
1
The Continental Army and the Continental Congress were now determined that they could win the war. However, Washington knew that the British would seek revenge. He decided to face the British attack back in New Jersey. Washington and his soldiers crossed the Delaware River one more time, returning to Trenton on New Year’s Eve 1776.
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On January 2, 1777, a British force of 5,000 soldiers attacked the Continental Army three times but each time were forced to retreat. Thinking that there was nowhere for the Continental Army to retreat to, the British forces stopped their attack and decided to wait until the following morning. However, when the British attacked the following morning, the Continental Army had snuck away in the middle of the night.
The statement that all men are created equal is the belief that all people are born free and equal; God (or the divine) created all people equally, and they should be free to choose their path and future.
Washington and the Continental Army were on their way to Princeton to attack the British there.
The British, having been defeated for a third time, retreated nearly all the way back to New York.
Thomas Paine’s Continued Influence:
Weeks before Christmas, Thomas Paine, who wrote the pamphlet that inspired the American Revolution, once again picked up his pen – or, rather, his quill. On December 19, 1776, “The American Crisis” was published. It read, “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 his country but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” What did Paine mean by these words? He was saying that he knew how hard it was for the Continental Army during the cold winter of 1776. They were cold, tired, injured, sick, hungry, scared, and discouraged. Paine knew that it was not easy for the Continental Army to stand up and fight for what they believed in. However, as he wrote, “it is those who stand up for what is right even when it is hard – not just when it is easy – who are heroes.” George Washington, like any good coach, understood how Paine’s words could be used to help rally the defeated American troops and explain why their cause was worth fighting for. Washington ordered officers to read “The American Crisis” to the troops of the Continental Army. It was these words that helped fuel the colonists’ resolve to continue fighting.