1777, Thomas Paine, "V. To Gen. Sir William Howe" in The American Crisis, The Writings of Thomas Paine, edited by Moncure D. Conway, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1906, http://www.bartleby.com/184/119.html
Before the present era she was a mere chaos of uncemented colonies, individually exposed to the ravages of the Indians and the invasion of any power that Britain should be at war with.