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Value Of Courage And Industry

Decent Essays

Courage and Industry
Courage is the ability to confront something that frightens you which was something that remained with the writers of the Revolutionary period from their Puritan forebearers. With the idea of a war for American independence approaching, it was a scary thought for many colonists. At the time, Britain had the most powerful army and navy, and the colonies had been under their rule for all these years, so these writers needed to encourage the colonists to be courageous. An example of this encouragement is seen in “The American Crisis”, “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Here, Thomas Paine is saying that even though …show more content…

Industry means to work hard with determination. Though industry was no longer as depended on by the colonists for survival, because by this time people had settled and weren’t re-building their life from scratch, it was still an important value for revolution. An example of this is seen in Thomas Paine’s “The American Crisis”, “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 their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” We can see from this quote, Paine is telling citizens that they can’t fight this war at times when it is the most comfortable for them, which is during good weather. In order to fight and win this war, soldiers needs to fight during the cold, gruelling weather too. This requires industry because they needed recruitments of soldiers to fight for this cause who have determination because that is what it will take to win the war. The final example of industry is in the “Declaration of Independence”, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,…” In this quote the use of the pronoun “we” builds a sense of unity, and this is important because the were about to head into war with Great Britain. The use of “we” tells colonists that they will need to band and work together. So, despite the fact that the need …show more content…

Piety is the deep respect and devotion to God, and with their treacherous journey to the new world, their piety was strengthened because God was the one who safely brought them to the new land. However, as time passed, many of their values began to shift. With events such as the Enlightenment, people began to value reason over religion, but it was the want of independence from Great Britain that overshadowed the value piety. An example of many of the colonists’ want for independence is from the “Declaration of Independence”, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it; and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” In this quote, we see that they are saying that the government should get their power from the people. This quote displays the ideals for our government which is to for citizens to have a voice in the government. The want for independence is also found in “Common Sense”, “A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become

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