<b>The American Crisis by Thomas Paine</b>&nbsp;<i><b>The American Crisis</b></i>, or simply&nbsp;<i><b>The Crisis</b></i>, is a pamphlet series by eighteenth-century&nbsp;Enlightenment&nbsp;philosopher and author&nbsp;Thomas Paine, originally published from 1776 to 1783 during the&nbsp;American Revolution.<br /><br />Thirteen numbered pamphlets were published between 1776 and 1777, with three additional pamphlets released between 1777 and 1783. The first of the pamphlets was published in&nbsp;<i>The Pennsylvania Journal</i>&nbsp;on December 19, 1776. Paine signed the pamphlets with the pseudonym, &quot;Common Sense&quot;.<br /><br />The pamphlets were contemporaneous with early parts of the American Revolution, when colonists needed inspiring works.&nbsp;<i>The American Crisis</i>&nbsp;series was used to &quot;recharge the revolutionary cause.<br /><br />Paine, like many other politicians and scholars, knew that the colonists were not going to support the&nbsp;American Revolutionary War&nbsp;without proper reason to do so. Written in a language that the common person could understand, they represented Paine&#39;s liberal philosophy.<br /><br />Paine also used references to God, saying that a war against&nbsp;Great Britain&nbsp;would be a war with the support of God. Paine&#39;s writings bolstered the morale of the American colonists, appealed to the British people&#39;s consideration of the war, clarified the issues at stake in the war, and denounced the advocates of a negotiated peace. The first volume famously begins: &quot;These are the times that try men&#39;s souls.