Category: Lexington and Concord

American History has many significant events and key figures. I will talk about Specific events that occurred during American history specifically during the Revolution that had positive outcomes even though it might not seem like that is the case. Acts that were passed that did not sit well with the people which led to actions and started battles. I will even mention a vital piece of document that declared Americans freedom from the British. The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765.

The new tax was imposed on all Americans which required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship’s papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. In the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade had always been viewed as measures to regulate commerce, not to raise money. The Stamp Act, however, was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the people. If this new tax were allowed to pass without resistance then a lot more troublesome taxation would definitely arise in the future. But the positive thing was that a year later it was repealed as the people were outraged and did not like being charged extra more almost everything they used. Imagine if it the Stamp act was still around today, that’s not a pretty thought. After taxes had imposed Americans would find ways to get them repealed or fight against them These taxes were part of a group of laws called the Townshend Acts. The Americans did not like these laws. They felt these laws were a violation of their rights. Just like when Britain imposed the Stamp Act, the Americans began to protest and the British brought in soldiers to keep order. but one altercation that caused anger and led to future battles was the Boston Massacre in 1770.

British soldiers in Boston opened fire on a group of American colonists killing five men in total. This was a very negative thing but was a motivating factor for the Americans to eventually fight back. In 1775 the battle that kicked of the Revolutionary war was The Battle of Lexington and Concord and it is significant in a positive way because it was a first step towards change. What happened was that the British were in Boston and had had heard of supplies of powder and weapons being kept by Patriots in the towns of Lexington and Concord. The British overpowered the Americans with the number of troops by having hundreds more than them show up at the sight. Eventually with extra motivation more American troops showed up and attacked non-stop until the British fled. What occurred next was that the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill. A fun fact is that the battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts Boston was being besieged by thousands of Americans. The British were trying to keep control of the city and control its valuable seaport. Although not a good outcome and despite their loss, the inexperienced American forces inflicted significant casualties against the enemy, and the battle provided them with an important confidence boost. The last battle that occurred he Battle of Yorktown was one of the most important battles of the American Revolutionary War. It took place in 1781 and ended with American and French forces, led by George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau, decisively defeating a British army commanded by Lord Cornwallis.

Cornwallis pleaded to being ill so that he did not attend the surrender ceremony. Many other battles and wars would occur later but for now Americans could celebrate in victory as they finally achieved true freedom at that point. The Declaration of Independence occurred in 1776 to which I believe was a positive and eventful outcome even before the Revolutionary war ended. By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain officially becoming The United States of America. The document summarized the americans motivations for seeking independence from Britain. Americans have gone through lots of protest, battles, Massacres, Wins and Losses to finally gain freedom. Taxes that were unfair and unjust were protested against and overthrown such as the stamp act where the British unfairly charged on all kinds of documents. People were unfairly murdered even though they had provoked the British and significant battles occurred that eventually paid of for the Americans. The Declaration of Independence was created for just that independence which led to the Americans gaining separation from Britain and it is a huge piece of history along with the American Revolution up to this day.

After the American Revolution, Americans, who had just broken free from the British, completely changed their politics, economy and society. The Founders decided to change how they wanted to run their society, even though, in the end, they went back to a more powerful federal government like Britain. Most people’s daily lives didn’t change much but the principles from the revolution made some try to look for better financial opportunities. Women, slaves, and loyalists were changed a lot in society. Women had more freedoms, some of the slaves were set free, and many loyalists left America.

America did not go through much economic change, but it did experience social and political change. Since they had just fought a war to gain their freedom from them, Americans wanted their government not to be similar to Britain’s at all. This is why they implemented the Articles of Confederation that greatly limited federal power. But this government couldn’t raise taxes, or do a plethora of other tasks that were desperately needed, so the people realized their need for a more centralized government. While the new Constitution was still being created and ratified, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay were writing the Federalist Papers in hopes of convincing states to support it. James Madison, in number 51 of the papers wrote “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition” (Doc I). He was referring to the idea of checks and balances that would be used to ensure that anyone in the federal government would not be able to have too much power, which the people were very wary of.

When it was finally ratified, the Constitution was similar to Britain’s government but also different because of their system of checks and balances. There was not much economic change in America after the revolution. The Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture in 1786 gave out a medal, which said, “Venerate the plough” (Doc F). This exhibits how the elite were still trying to help the common people who weren’t financially better off than before the revolution, but it didn’t make much difference. Similarly, in Shay’s Rebellion, Yeoman farmers in Massachusetts, according to Abigail Adams’ letter to Thomas Jefferson, “were crying out for a paper currency, some for an equal distribution of property” (Doc G). Shay’s Rebellion symbolizes the economic troubles that the poor had to deal with. The social change was the biggest change that happened in America. After the Revolution, the place of women, slaves, and loyalists in society was greatly altered. In order to teach justice and liberty to their children, women were educated in the ideals of Republican Motherhood.

In a woodcut of a patriot woman made in 1779, a woman is shown with a rifle and gunpowder horn (Doc A). Some women did play bigger roles in society by going with the fighting soldiers and sometimes even fighting with them in the revolution. However, not all women were satisfied to just go back to the earlier place in society they were at before the war as shown by Molly Wallace who said during her valedictory address in 1792, “if [taught] to read, why not to speak? ” (Doc J). Many American women, like Wallace, sought after advancing their roles in society. But sadly, women suffrage didn’t happen for 140 years. For slaves in some regions, there was a lot of social change. In the years after the revolution, the slave owners in the North practiced manumission, and freed many slaves there. In the South, however, it would take many more years and a Civil War for the slaves to gain their freedom. There were more actions against slavery, though.

The Northwest Ordinance in 1787 stated, “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said territory” (Doc H), outlawing the spread of slavery in new states in hopes that eventually, states without slavery would exceed the states with it and be able to abolish it everywhere. The loyalists or “Tories” also went through significant change in society. Since they had favored Britain during the way, after it, they were became a widely hated. The Pennsylvania Packet says “Never let [the Tories] return to this happy land” (Doc B). They went through so much change in society that countless loyalists left America, never to return. Politically, Americans underwent some change by creating a new government even though they still altered it in the end. Economically, there were still elites who ruled over the lower, poor class of people. And socially, a large amount of change occurred for women, slaves and loyalists, although the change in the place of loyalists was extremely negative. In these ways, American society was changed in respect to political and social life, but not economically.

The battles of Lexington and concord fought on April 19th started the American Revolutionary war. The fighting started on the Lexington Green and soon the British were hastily retreating under intense fire. Many more battles followed, and in 1783 the colonists formally won their independence. The redcoats had better weapons than the militias and they were a lot bigger army. The militiamen didn’t want to fight, instead they wanted to talk and come to an agreement.

The battle of lexington and concord started because General Gage, a loyalist to the king, had received secret instructions to take the patriots’ weapons. The British general wanted to capture two minute men, John Hancock and Sam Adams then they were off to concord. The British soldiers had to march through Lexington to get to concord and take the military guns and ammunition. They were planning on marching only to Concord, but since they had met up with patriots ready to fight in Lexington, a battle started there and took time out of getting the Redcoats to concord right away even took a few soldiers from the British Army.

Paul Revere never shouted the legendary phrase “The British are coming!” as he passed from town to town, which later he was held responsible for. This would’ve confused most of the Americans and they would not know what to do. Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty warned the minutemen that the British soldiers would be coming across the Charleston River coming into Lexington.

Word spread from town to town, and militias prepared to confront the British and help their neighbors in Lexington and Concord and signed their names to fight, gathered ammunition, a gun, water, and a pound of bread. About 700 British troops arrived in Lexington and came upon 77 militiamen gathered on the Lexington town green where the battle began. When Captain Parker assembled his small army near Lexington, he realized they were too small to take on the British force.

Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless you are fired upon, but if they mean war, let it begin here, he encouraged his men. Both Captain Parker and the British officers gave their men orders not to shoot. Captain Parker even ordered the men to disband to ease the commotion, but, his men could not hear him well enough when he ordered due to the commotion and his encounter with tuberculosis earlier. Few shots fired, and none of them laid down their weapons. At that point, an unknown shot came from someone in the ranks or hiding behind the walls and trees. The British soldiers, probably without orders, then opened fire on the Americans.

To this day, no one knows which side fired first. Several British shots were afterwards unleashed before order could be restored. When the smoke cleared, eight militiamen lay dead and nine were wounded, while only one Redcoat was injured. The British soldiers then continued into Concord to search for arms, not realizing that most of the minutemen had already been relocated. They decided to burn what little they found, and the fire got slightly out of control. Hundreds of militiamen who took over the high ground outside of Concord incorrectly thought the whole town would be torched and all of their belongings and family would be gone.

After searching Concord the British prepared to return to Boston, located 18 miles away. By that time, almost 2,000 militiamen (known as minutemen for their ability to be ready on a moment’s notice) had relocated and settled onto the area, and more were constantly arriving. At first, the militiamen simply followed the British column. Fighting started again soon after and the hundreds of scattered militiamen in groups of three to four minutemen were firing at the redcoat soldiers from behind trees, stone walls, houses and sheds that were found in forests and open land. The minutemen fired from behind trees, stone walls, houses, and sheds so that the British redcoats would not know where they were firing from and the Redcoats would be unable to fire back.

Before long, British troops were abandoning weapons, clothing and equipment in order to take away any extra weight and were able to retreat faster. The hundreds of scattered minutemen relocated every once in awhile to shoot at more Redcoats in the same forests. This method helped them kill faster, keep themselves from getting shot at, and using this method the minutemen will be able to keep killing the Redcoats and stay successful. The battles of Lexington and Concord were over and the colonists did not show great marksmanship that day, considering they never wanted violence with the Redcoats, yet they wanted to compromise.

Nearly 3,500 militiamen firing constantly for 18 miles only killed or wounded roughly 250 British Redcoats, and only about 90 killed and wounded on their side. Nevertheless, the militiamen proved they could stand up and battle to one of the most powerful armies across the whole world and beat them. News of the battles quickly spread, reaching London by May 28th. By the following summer, a full-scale of independence had broken out. Many more battles followed, and in 1783 the colonists earned their independence. The colonists celebrated their first engagement of their fight for freedom. Although this was a small, short battle, the significance of this event that had began the American Revolution, which would change the view on the American history forever. The American Revolution has begun.