The Colonial Response: First Continental Congress & Lexington-Concord Events

1. Colonial Response to the Intolerable Acts • In response to the Intolerable Acts, delegates from 12 of the colonies met at the First Continental Congress. • The First Continental Congress decided to… …boycott all British goods and stop exporting goods to Britain until the Intolerable Acts were repealed. …urge each colony to set up its own militia. Brainpop: Causes of the American Revolution

2. Chaplain Jacob Duché leading the first prayer in the First Continental Congress at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, September 1774

3. Objective: To examine how the battles at Lexington and Concord started the American Revolution.

4. Lexington and Concord • British General Thomas Gage marched to Concord, MA, in order to seize a large supply of arms stored by the minutemen. • Plans were also made to arrest Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. British Gen. Thomas Gage

5. Two lanterns were hung from the Old North Church to let the Sons of Liberty know that the British were moving towards Concord by sea. Founded in 1723, the Old North Church is the oldest church in Boston

6. Paul Revere’s Ride by, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1860 LISTEN, my children, and you shall hearOf the midnight ride of Paul Revere,On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five;Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, "If the British marchBy land or sea from the town to-night,Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry archOf the North Church tower, as a signal light, --One, if by land, and two, if by sea;And I on the opposite shore will be,Ready to ride and spread the alarmThrough every Middlesex village and farm,For the country-folk to be up and to arm."

7. • The Sons of Liberty discovered the plot so they sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to warn the countryside of the arrival of the British army.

8. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

9. “Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” - John Parker • On the way to Concord, a brief battle ensued between the soldiers and colonists in Lexington. 8 colonists were killed.

10. "The battle of Lexington, April 19th. 1775. Plate I." Hand colored engraving. Published 1775. Amos Doolittle (engraver) and Ralph Earl (artist).

11. • In Concord, Gen. Gage found no weapons. • However, waiting minutemen killed 73 British soldiers. Minuteman statue Concord, Massachusetts

12. Who fired the first shot at the Battle of Lexington and Concord?

13. Investigating the Evidence • Document A: Letter from Joseph Warren (President pro tem), April 26, 1775 • Document B: Affidavit sworn by 34 minutemen on April 25, 1775 • Document C: Excerpt from the novel April Morning by Howard Fast, published in 1961 • Document D: Entry for April 19th 1775, from the diary of British Lieutenant John Barker • Document E: Newspaper account from The London Gazette, June 10, 1775 • Document F: From the diary of Ezra Stiles, pres. of Yale College, August 21, 1775 • Document G: From The United States: Story of a Free People, published 1963 • Document H: British Ensign Jeremy Lister, personal narrative written in 1782.

14. Cracking the Case • Based on your analysis of the documents and citing evidence to support your answer, please write a paragraph answering the following question: Who fired the first shot at the Battle of Lexington and Concord? • Please indicate whether you were satisfied with the evidence and list any additional questions that have been left unanswered through your investigation.