48 pages • 1 hour read
Thomas PaineThe American Crisis
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1776A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary: “A Supernumerary Crisis to Sir Guy Carleton”
Paine breaks from his typical subject matter to write an urgent pamphlet in an effort to bring a murderer to justice. He recounts how British forces captured American Captain Huddy from the Jersey militia and, after holding him hostage in New York for three weeks, a British soldier named Lippencott murdered him on the Jersey shore. Paine explains that American General Washington then demanded that the British deliver the murderer, Lippencott, to the Americans, or that the Americans would execute British captive Captain Asgill.
Paine laments that this demand has not been met, and so Captain Asgill is now “doomed to death for a crime not his own” (153). Paine calls the situation a “black business” and questions the lack of British discipline that led to Captain Huddy’s extrajudicial murder, calling the British a “barbarous enemy” with “detestable character” (154). He shames the British army for failing to disown Lippencott and accuses them of being Asgill’s real executioners. He urges the British to give up the murderer while they can, if not to help the Americans then to save their own Captain. He claims that the British have ruined the “security” of captivity and broken any trust between the enemies that prisoners would not be murdered once captured.
Chapter 14 Summary: “The Crisis XII. To the Earl of Shelburne”
Paine explains that he is responding to the Earl’s speech which was printed in both British and New York newspapers. He summarizes the Earl’s position that American independence would “end in the ruin of England” and that peace was only desirable if it was not “humiliating” and dictated by France or America (157). Paine rejects the Earl’s opinions, accuses him of peddling falsehoods and rejects the Earl’s prediction that American independence would lead to a loss of colonists’ liberty. Paine claims that it was America’s dependence on England that resulted in “severe humiliation” and as a result the British are untrustworthy.
Paine responds to the Earl’s claim that he would like to speak to the American Congress in person, writing that he will find only resistance there. He reminds the Earl that while the war was a distant event for those in England, it was a harsh reality for Americans over the last seven years. He posits that the matter of American independence is simple since it is the “only way out of an expensive and ruinous war” (159).
He writes that the Earl would not be welcome to visit Congress and that, even if he came, it would only lead to “new disgraces, contentions and quarrels” (162). He reiterates that because America is now independent, “the only act of manhood is to let her go” (162). He then quotes a letter from British General Carleton and Admiral Digby, which assured General Washington that peace negotiations had already begun in Paris with King George’s understanding that the thirteen colonies would be independent.
Paine compares the Earl’s actions with the letter’s declarations and accuses the King and ministers of deceiving American leaders with mixed messages. He concludes his letter by persuading the Earl that if his motivations were honorable, he would support the declarations that Carleton and Digby made in their letter.
Chapters 13-14 Analysis
Paine’s addresses to Sir Guy Carleton and the Earl of Shelburne demonstrate his continued tactic of singling out British officials in order to get their, and the public’s, attention. Paine used the adaptable medium of a war-time pamphlet to great effect in his urgent supernumerary crisis to Carleton. Paine abandons his usual subject matter and instead focuses his persuasive powers on the minutiae of one tragic war time situation. The author appeals to the British army’s sense of manhood and fair play by asking “what sort of men must Englishmen be, and what sort of order and discipline do they preserve in their army” if they allow their troops to commit extraneous murders of American captives (153). Paine uses confronting imagery to ensure that the British feel responsible for the potential execution of Captain Asgill, writing it would be as if they were the ones hanging him themselves.
When writing to the Earl of Shelburne, however, Paine shifts his persuasive themes from notions of manhood and chivalry to focus on a politician’s priorities, such as his personal reputation and the country’s finances. He undermines the Earl’s opinion that there is any way the British could reclaim America and reminds him that after spending 100 million pounds fighting American forces for seven years, they still have not succeeded. He further argues that America could bear the expense of a continued war much more easily than Britain could. Paine warns the Earl that he will “gain no honor by temporising politics” and delaying American independence (162).
Paine seeks to humiliate the Earl by questioning why he perceives America as “the giant of the empire” and goads Britain for behaving like “her dwarf in waiting” (159). While Paine is addressing the Earl, he is also clearly writing for working-class Britons, and strategically takes the opportunity to undermine the British military. He claims that the British army does not care about ending the war, as they live an easy life, but the common people of England, such as the farmers and tradespeople, were working to support the military. He accuses the British army of robbing the commonfolk.
Paine uses specific political examples to ruin the Earl’s reputation with the British people and claims that because of the Earl’s dishonesty, no one trusts the British government.
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