“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” 

― Thomas PaineThe Crisis December 1776

Quotation #1

“Yonder are the Hessians. They were bought for seven pounds and ten pence a

man. Are you worth more? Prove it. Tonight the American flag floats from yonder hill or

Molly Stark sleeps a widow!” (Bennington 1777)

― John Stark

Quotation #2

“Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes! Then fire low!” 

― Israel Putnam

at Breed’s Hill

1775

Quotation #3

Quotation #4

“Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war,

Let it begin here.”--- John Parker

At Lexington and Concord 1775

“There! His Majesty can now read my name without glasses. And he can double the

reward on my head!” ― John Hancock

Summer 1776

Quotation #5

Quotation #6“They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to

cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or

the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather

strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have

bound us hand and foot?”-Patrick Henry 1775

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang

separately.” ― Benjamin Franklin

Summer 1776

Quotation #7

Quotation #8

“May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a

name and a praise in the whole Earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires

of the whole world in one common undistinguished ruin!” 

― Joseph Warren

“Yes, Bill, nothing will save us but an entire stopping of trade, to both England and the West Indies, throughout

the continent, and that must be determined both speedily and absolutely. The least hesitation by you to

the south and all is over. . . . I sincerely believe they [the British Parliament] intend to carry out their threats, which

are to make the town a desolate wilderness and the grass to grow in our streets.”

-Charles WilsonBoston Merchant

to his Brother-in-LawMay 1774

Quotation #9

Quotation #10

“Pennsylvania has much to lose in this contest and much to hope from a proper settlement of it.

We have long flourished under our charter government. What may be the consequences of

another form we cannot pronounce with certainty; but this we know, that it is a road we have not

traveled and may be worse than it is described.”William Smith

Anglican Clergyman Pennsylvania 1776

Quotation #11

“At present the martial law stands thus: An officer or committeeman enters a plantation with his posse. The alternative is proposed. Agree to join us [Whigs] and

your persons and properties are safe . . . if you refuse, we are directly to cut up your corn, shoot your pigs, burn your houses, seize your Negroes and perhaps tar and feather yourself. Not to choose the first requires more courage than they are possessed of, and I believe this

method has seldom failed with the lower sort.”-Janet Schaw

Description of Patriot Intimidation of Loyalists in North Carolina

Quotation #12

“Where the money is to come from which will defray this enormous annual expense of three millions sterling, and all those other debts, I know not; unless the author of Common Sense, or some other ingenious projector, can discover the Philosopher’s Stone, by which iron and other base metals may be transmuted

into gold. Certain I am that our commerce and agriculture, the two principal sources of our wealth, will not support such an expense. The whole of our exports from the Thirteen United Colonies, in the year 1769, amounted only to £2,887,898 sterling; which is not so

much, by near half a million, as our annual expense would be were we independent of Great Britain.”

—Charles Inglis, 1776, Pennsylvania

“Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then

their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust

our cause to our swords”.Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren,

April 16, 1776

Quotation #13

Quotation #14

"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; bur that stands it now, deserves the

love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny.....is not easily conquered; yet we

have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.“

Thomas Paine, Intro to the The Crisis, December 19, 1776

Quotation #15

"The die is now cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph.... we must not

retreat."King George III,

In a letter to Lord North, 1774

“America stands armed with resolution and virtue; but she still recoils at the idea of drawing the sword against the nation from whence she

derived her origin. Yet Britain, like an unnatural parent, is ready to plunge her dagger into the

bosom of her affectionate offspring. But may we not hope for more lenient measures!”

-Mercy Otis Warren 1774

Quotation #16