In the minds of most Americans, the name of Paul Revere forever conjures up the image of the lone patriotic rider shrouded in the darkness of the New England night. His mission: to inform the countryside that the Regulars are coming. On this night, the fate of the natural rights of all men in the new world seemed to rest on his shoulders. As terrifically romantic as this thought may be, it is far from the truth. Revere's midnight ride was anything but the heroics of just one man; rather, it can be much better summarized as the collective effort and doings of all New England Whigs. (ANB)
The day was April 18, 1775. Revere, in Boston at the time, had just been informed by Joseph Warren that General Thomas Gage had dispatched a group of Regulars to capture Sam Adams and John Hancock, in Lexington, and burn the military stores in Concord. (Fischer 95-97) Revere acted quickly and moved to the Christ Church, the tallest building in the North End at the time. He had been told to light a lantern visible from Charlestown to warn a group of Charlestown Whigs of the moving Redcoats. Here, three of Revere's friends and fellow Whigs came to his aid. The most prominent of the three was Robert Newman, a sexton in the church. The three managed to evade the Redcoat guards and were able to light the lantern and send the message. Revere, promptly, went back to his house to prepare for his journey. (Forbes 254-257)
At about 10:15 P.M. Revere got into his boat to cross the Charles River to Charlestown. Again, he was not alone; Joshua Bentley and Thomas Richardson, two shipbuilders, provided Revere with a boat and escorted him across the river. As they crossed the river, they ran into the HMS Somerset, a large armed ship that was specifically positioned there to prevent nocturnal movement. On any other night, Revere probably would have been spotted, but there was a lunar anomaly in which the moon was lower than usual. Instead of shedding light on Revere's boat, the moon now put a shadow on the boat and made it nearly invisible. Even God, it seemed, had had a hand in helping Revere that night. Revere's boat passed the HMS Somerset safely and landed in Charlestown. There awaiting Revere were a group of Whigs and Brown Beauty, a mare that had been provided by John Larkin.
In Woody Holton's Forced Founders, that most revered segment of the revolutionary generation, the elitist gentry class of Virginia, comes across very much as a group of self-serving reactionaries, rather then the idealized revolutionaries of the great patriotic myth of popular history. He sets about disassembling a central portion of the myth created by earlier generations of Consensus historians, by asserting that rather then gallantly leading the charge for independence, Virginia's elitist gentry resorted to independence as their last and only means of saving their elite ruling status, their economic futures, and even their very lives many feared. While this is very much an example of revisionist history, Holton has not so much rewritten history, as he has provided the back story of the complexity and diversity of the Virginia colony on the eve of the American Revolution. For while the book's title may insinuate otherwise, lowly groups like slaves and Indians discussed here are afforded only the status of “founders” by pressing those traditionally thought of in this role to take the plunge for independence. Still the papers and correspondence of the iconic figureheads of the revolutionary generation like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison make up the bulk of primary sources.
Alfred Young is a historian who takes a harder look at the life of an ordinary Boston man, George Robert twelves Hewes, before and after the revolution changes in America. The book looks at the developments that led up to the American Revolution through the life Hewes, who goes from a shoemaker to a rebel. Not only was Hewes a participant in the Boston Massacre, he was also involved in the event that later would be referred to as the Tea party. His involvements in these events paint a clearer picture of what can motivate someone to take up arms and fight for their freedom.
In the book Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, the author relates the stories of six crucial historic events that manage to capture the flavor and fervor of the revolutionary generation and its great leaders. While each chapter or story can be read separately and completely understood, they do relate to a broader common theme. One of Ellis' main purposes in writing the book was to illustrate the early stages and tribulations of the American government and its system through his use of well blended stories. The idea that a republican government of this nature was completely unprecedented is emphasized through out the book. Ellis discusses the unique problems that the revolutionary generation experienced as a result of governing under the new concept of a democracy. These problems included- the interpretation of constitutional powers, the regulation of governmental power through checks and balances, the first presidential elections, the surprising emergence of political parties, states rights vs. federal authority, and the issue of slavery in a otherwise free society. Ellis dives even deeper into the subject by exposing the readers to true insight of the major players of the founding generation. The book attempts to capture the ideals of the early revolutionary generation leaders and their conflicting political viewpoints. The personalities of Hamilton, Burr, Adams, Washington, Madison, and Jefferson are presented in great detail. Ellis exposes the reality of the internal and partisan conflict endured by each of these figures in relation to each other. Ellis emphasizes that despite these difficult hurdles, the young American nation survived its early stages because of its great collection of charismatic leaders and their ability to ...
“Join, or Die.” “Don’t Tread on Me.” These are two mottos often used by Revolutionary supporters and fighters from about 1754 to 1783, and even sometimes today it is still used. These were battle cries that patriotic men would scream with all their might before charging onto the battlefield, where they might take their last breath. Nearly five thousand men gave their lives, for freedom’s sake. Their sacrifices were not done in vain, as the war was ended on September 3rd, 1783. This sense of victory and accomplishment is what lead these new Americans to further establishing their country, making their mark on history, and creating a new identity for themselves, as free men and woman.
Gordon S. Wood. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage; Reprint edition. March 2, 1993
America was born and survived, its rough road into a nation, through a series of events, or moments in history. The founding brother’s book is about a few important figures during and after the American Revolution. These important figures consisted of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, John Adams, George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. Each of these men, contributed to the building of America in one way or another. The book breaks these contributions into a few short stories, to help understand what these important figures did.
On April 19th, 1775 British troops marched to Lexington and Concord, where many militia men already awaited their arrival. The British were after the ammunition of the militia. Paul Revere previously warned the militia so that they could be prepared. Many people are unaware of the fact that Paul Revere was accompanied by William Dawes on his midnight ride.
As a result of the French and Indian War, England’s attention became focused on the areas that required tending by the government other than North America, which provided the colonies with the one thing that ensured the downfall of Britain’s monarchial reign over America: salutary neglect. The unmonitored inhabitants of the colonies accustomed themselves to a level of independence that they had never possessed before, and when these rights were jeopardized by the enforcement of the Stamp Act after the Seven Year’s War, the colonists would not take it lying down. The colonies bound together in rebellion against the taxation without representation through boycotting the use of English goods, as embodied by Benjamin Franklin’s famous drawing of a snake; the “Join or Die” snake, as a whole representing the functionality and “life” of the colonies if they would work together, also forewarns the uselessness and “death” of the individual regions, suggesting that the colonies as a whole would have to fight the revolution against the Mother Country or else fail miserably...
The night of April 18th, 1775, was an important day of history for America. That night, Paul Revere, William Douse, and Samuel Prescott rode from Boston to Lexington. All three men had the responsibility of warning John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British were coming. The cause of Paul Revere’s Midnight ride was that Paul Revere found out what the British were planning on doing and where the British are going to attack. How did Paul Revere find this out? Well, there was a light coming from the Boston Church signaling that the British were coming. The news was passed onto Joseph Warren where then Joseph passed the news to Paul Revere.
So Paul Revere had to first light the lanterns so the people of Concord would know whether the british were traveling by land or boat if by land 1 lantern if by boat 2 lanterns would be lit. Since the british were traveling by boat 2 lanterns were lit and Paul was on his way. Then Paul had 2 friends that would help him get to his horse across the harbor to Charleston town to get Pauls horse. Paul went from Charleston to Lexington. Paul rode to Lexington for a very important reason because if he didnt warn Hancock and Adams all the secret weapons that were stashed to fight off the british soldiers than we might of lost that battle and still be under England's rule today. After that Paul got caught and the british soldiers and had to walk back to
Dresses up as an Indian, he joined 50 other men in the historical event known as the Boston Tea Party. While sources do not say he was in charge of anything in the event, I speculate Paul Revere did in fact play a large role in the actions that night. It is within reason to believe that he may have been a self appointed leader who told his acquaintances where to throw the tea in the harbor so it causes the most damage to it.
Paul Revere was born in Boston’s North End, in December 1734. His dad name was Apollos Rivoire and his mom’s name was Deborah Hitchborn. His father was a silversmith who came to America as an escapee from religious imprisonment in France. He went the North Writing School when he was 7 and 13 because his dad planned on him to keep the tradition of silversmith trade going. For most lower and middle class children, education started from Dame schools where children studied until eight years old. In school the focus was more on discipline and religion than on education. Revere Sr. wanted his son to follow his steps, but to become a silversmith and to run the store Paul had to learn reading, writing, and math. So he was enrolled into the North Writing School, which was the biggest and the best public school in Boston. To be accepted a student had to know basic reading skills and agree to pay a part of the heating bill. The salaries of principal and teacher were paid by the govt. This let kids like Paul Revere have an opportunity to get a high quality education to succeed in the professions. By thirteen years old, Paul had graduated from the North Writing and started showing interest on learning his father's career; who taught him the secrets of his craft. Paul was becoming a master silversmith in no time. In 1754 when Paul was nineteen, his father died and he took over the family business. To help his family Paul had to be smart, he put his knowledge in to making surgical instruments, engraved printing copper plates, sold glasses and replacing missing teeth.
However, the author 's interpretations of Jefferson 's decisions and their connection to modern politics are intriguing, to say the least. In 1774, Jefferson penned A Summary View of the Rights of British America and, later, in 1775, drafted the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (Ellis 32-44). According to Ellis, the documents act as proof that Jefferson was insensitive to the constitutional complexities a Revolution held as his interpretation of otherwise important matters revolved around his “pattern of juvenile romanticism” (38). Evidently, the American colonies’ desire for independence from the mother country was a momentous decision that affected all thirteen colonies. However, in Ellis’ arguments, Thomas Jefferson’s writing at the time showed either his failure to acknowledge the severity of the situation or his disregard of the same. Accordingly, as written in the American Sphinx, Jefferson’s mannerisms in the first Continental Congress and Virginia evokes the picture of an adolescent instead of the thirty-year-old man he was at the time (Ellis 38). It is no wonder Ellis observes Thomas Jefferson as a founding father who was not only “wildly idealistic” but also possessed “extraordinary naivete” while advocating the notions of a Jeffersonian utopia that unrestrained
...n Thomas Preston has portrayed the correct story. The reason for my decision is because unlike Paul Revere Captain Thomas Preston portrays a very detailed story on the events that occurred that day. He also admits to being at fault for some of the retched things that have occurred that day. While on the other hand Paul Revere was very one sided and only tried to portray the troops as bad men. Captain Thomas Preston even though only captain for the day, he made a difference in history.
In “ A Description of New England ”, Smith starts by describing the pleasure and content that risking your life for getting your own piece of land brings to men. On the other hand, Bradford reminds us how harsh and difficult the trip to the New World was for the p...