The Road to Lexington and
Concord
I. The Intolerable Acts
A. Boston tea party aroused fury in Britain
1. British pass Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) to
punish Massachusetts
a)
b)
c)
d)
Closed port of Boston
Banned committees of correspondence
Allowed Britain to house troops
British officials stand trial in Britain
B. General Thomas Gage was appointed
governor of Mass. To enforce laws
II. First Continental Congress
A. September 1774 delegates from
all colonies except Georgia met in
Philadelphia
1. Voted to ban all trade with
Britain
2. Called each colony to start
training troops
3. They were not ready to call for
independence but they were willing
to uphold colonial rights
III. Spies
A. Sam Adams built a spy network to
watch over British activities
B. British had spies as well (loyalists)
1. General Gage learned that
Colonists were storing arms in
Concord
2. He also heard that Sam Adams and
John Hancock were in Lexington
a)
Gage ordered Adams and Hancock arrested
and supplies destroyed
IV. The Midnight Ride
A.
Paul Revere and William
Dawes were charged with
spreading news of British
movements
1. If one lantern burned in
the old north church, Brits
were coming by land, two
meant water
B. Dawes and Revere moved
when the Brits did
C. In Lexington, Sam Prescott
joined them
D. Prescott made it to Concord,
Dawes and Revere were
captured
V. Lexington and Concord
A. April 19th 700 British troops
reached Lexington, 70 Militia men
were waiting
1.
2.
3.
8 Militia men were killed, Brits
moved for Concord
4,000 Minutemen and Militia men
lined the road from Concord to
Lexington.
Peppered the retreating Brits with
musket fire – 1000 more Brits
reinforced
B. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote
“colonial troops fired the shot
heard round the world”
C. Rebels (Patriots) and Loyalists