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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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End of the "American Crisis" by Steve Payne
In 1776, on this day the
"American Crisis" ended when Commander-in-Chief William Howe's rampant British
troops caught up with the bedraggled rebel army just outside Hackensack, New
Jersey.
In which peace prevails over liberty
Before the crisis, Washington had fought as a soldier for Great Britain during the French and Indian War. "I was a very happy British subject, living in the royal colony of Virginia," he said. "I fought for my king and my country". "We had all the rights of Englishmen," he said of life in the mid-18th century. "But then, in 1764, the king of England opened his treasury and he was shocked - it was almost empty. ... For the next 11 years, our lordly masters in Great Britain started reaching into our purses and stripping us of our rights as Englishmen". "Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the heathens. It was the most prosperous invention the devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry" ~ Thomas PaineAlso among those in retreat was Washington's trusted advisor, an English-born radical who was the author of the powerful, widely-read pamphlet "Common Sense". Because it was Thomas Paine who issued the galvanising cry “Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)”. His plan was to flee to Philadelphia where he would publish a more substantive treatise. Instead, he was summarily executed for high treason when the redcoats discovered the draft first edition of "The American Crisis" amongst his few possessions. "If there must be trouble, let it be in our day, that your child may have peace" ~ Thomas Paine ![]() Because in his diary Paine recounted a meeting with a loyalist tavern owner "with as pretty a child in his hand ... as I ever saw". The taverner, complacent in the face of crisis, exclaimed "Well! give me peace in my day". Paine responded: "If there must be trouble, let it be in our day, that your child may have peace". Of course cynics have suggested on numerous occasions ever since that the text of Paine's diary was modified by William Howe and his officers..
Steve Payne Editor of Today in Alternate History, a Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In History That Never Occurred Today. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting fictional blog.
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