On the recordJanuary 1, 1776
You knew not what it was to be alarmed at midnight with an armed enemy in the streets.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgYou knew not what it was to be alarmed at midnight with an armed enemy in the streets.
Paine contrasts the lived experience of Americans during the war with the sheltered existence of the English public, who had not faced direct enemy threats.
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Never did so great an opportunity offer itself to England, and to all Europe, as is produced by the two Revolutions of America and France.
The oppressed soldier will become a freeman; and the tortured sailor, no longer dragged through the streets like a felon, will pursue his mercantile voyage in safety.
Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with infinitely more advantage, than any victory with all its expense.
By the former, freedom has a national champion in the western world; and by the latter, in Europe.