User:Skyler96/sandbox

Skyler Smith

Copy and paste the Wikipedia markup code below the line into your Wikipedia sandbox. This gives you 5 sections for the items you should have in your sandbox, and it makes it easy for me to grade your sandbox to give you an A: Proposed edits to your article Your reading list A revised paragraph from your article Your original contributions to your article drawn from your readings A list of references for all your citations I will look for these sections when I grade your sandbox, so they are important.

COPY THE CODE BELOW THE LINE

Wikipedia's The American Crisis article for ENGL9876.99

Analysis of Article

1. The details of crisis pamphlets is something that needs work. The article never goes into detail about what is in the Crisis papers and I think it would be a good idea to add a section about the contents of the papers.
2. Impact is another thing that could use work. The article sometimes mentions how the papers impacted people in a few random sentences. I think a section devoted to explaining how, why, and the extent of the papers' impact on people and society will improve the article.
3. How is it different from Paine's other works? What makes the Crisis so well known among Paine's work? I think a section devoted to explaining what makes the Crisis different from Paine's other works could improve the article.

Reading List

A numbered list of all your readings go here. Use the following format:

• Author’s name. (Date). Short title.
• Baym, Nina & Robert S. Levine. (2012). The Norton Anthology of American Literature.
• Davidson, E. H., & Scheick, W. J. (1991). Authority in Paine’s Common Sense and Crisis Papers.
• Aldridge, A. O. (1998). The Crisis.
• Paine, Thomas. (1776). The American Crisis.
• Paine, Thomas. (1794). The Age of Reason.
• Smylie, James H. (1972-73). Clerical Perspectives on Deism: Paine's The Age of Reason in Virginia

Revised paragraph from article

Original

Along with the patriotic nature of The American Crisis, it displayed Paine's strong deist beliefs^{[citation needed]}, inciting the laity with suggestions that the British are trying to assume powers that only God should have. Paine sees the British political and military maneuvers in America as "impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God." Paine states that he believes God supports the American cause, "that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent".

Revised

Along with the patriotic nature of The American Crisis, it displayed Paine's strong deist beliefs, inciting the laity with suggestions that the British are trying to assume powers that only God should have. Paine sees the British political and military maneuvers in America as "impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God." Paine also states that he believes God supports the American cause, because "God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent." These statements obviously show that Paine believes in a God and that he can and will interfere with the world he made. Despite these strong statements of God's support of America, Paine also tells the people to "throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but 'show your faith by your works.'" Paine might have believed that God was with America, but he did not think that God should do all the work. Paine wanted the people to work and fight for their freedom with God not just let him do all the work. This belief in the existence of God and the belief that people had to do things on their own with or without God's help is practically the definition of deism.

Original Contribution

The Crisis No.1 starts out with the famous line "These are the times that try men's souls," and goes on to talk about how Britain has no right to invade America, saying that it is a power belonging "only to God." He also says that "if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then there is not such a thing as slavery on earth." Paine obviously believes that Britain is essentially tying to enslave America. He then speaks a little about how the panicking of our sudden revolutionary war has both hindered and helped us. Paine then speaks of his experience in the fight for Fort Lee and their subsequent retreat. Afterwards, Paine remarks on an experience with a tory, a loyalist. He says the man told his child, "'Well! give me peace in my day,'" meaning he did not want the war to happen in his lifetime. Paine says that this is very "unfatherly" and he should want the war to happen in his time so it does not happen in his child's time. Paine then gives some advice on how to do better in the war. Finally, he finishes Crisis No.1 with a few paragraphs of encouragement, a vivid description of what will happen if we act like cowards and give up, and the closing statement, "Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented."

Notes

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