|BACK||THE CRISIS INDEX||NEXT| The American Crisis:
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 12, 1777THOSE who expect to reap the
blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of
supporting it. The event of yesterday was one of those kind of
alarms which is just sufficient to rouse us to duty, without
being of consequence enough to depress our fortitude. It is not
a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are
defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by
degrees, the consequences will be the same. Look back at the
events of last winter and the present year, there you will find
that the enemy's successes always contributed to reduce them.
What they have gained in ground, they paid so dearly for in
numbers, that their victories have in the end amounted to
defeats. We have always been masters at the last push, and
always shall be while we do our duty. Howe has been once on the
banks of the Delaware, and from thence driven back with loss and
disgrace: and why not be again driven from the Sc