The American Crisis by Thomas Paine, read by Professor Joanne Freeman

Thomas Paine began The American Crisis later in 1776, publishing the first of thirteen parts in the Pennsylvania Journal newspaper on December 19, 1776, and very soon reprinted as a pamphlet by Styner and Cist in Philadelphia. A copy of the pamphlet from the Beinecke Library is on view this winter in a temporary exhibit from December 13, 2019, to January 20, 2020. More info: beinecke.libra...
George Washington read the inspiring work to the American soldiers on December 23, 1776. Joanne Freeman, Class of 1954 Professor of American History at Yale University, a leading historian of the politics and political culture of the Revolutionary era and early national periods of American history, read here its stirring opening lines:
“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. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."