HAPPY 31 ST DAY OF SCHOOL THE BATTLE

HAPPY 31 ST DAY OF SCHOOL!

THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON • TODAY’S TITLE: ^ • TODAY’S DATE: OCTOBER 9 TH, 2019 • TODAY’S PAGE NUMBER: 33 • TODAY’S EQ: WHO FIRED THE FIRST SHOT ATLEXINGTON? WHY IS IT KNOWN AS “THE SHOT HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD? ”

COMPANIES HAD TOO MUCH IN THEIR WAREHOUSES BECAUSE OF COLONIAL PROTESTS ON TEA. ENGLAND LOWERED THE PRICE OF TEA TO MAKE IT CHEAPER, PUTTING COLONIAL BUSINESSES AT RISK. COLONISTS PROTESTED BY DUMPING 342 CHESTS OF TEA INTO BOSTON HARBOR. BECAUSE OF THIS, ENGLAND PASSED A SERIES OF LAWS TO PUNISHBOSTON AND MASSACHUSETTS • THE INTOLERABLE ACTS (1774) : ACTS PASSED FOLLOWING THE BOSTON TEA PARTY WITH THE PURPOSE OF PUNISHINGBOSTON AND MASSACHUSETTS. CLOSED THE PORT OF BOSTON, STOPPED TOWN MEETINGS, COLONISTS WERE FORCED TO FEED AND HOUSE TROOPS, BRITISH OFFICIALS HAD TO HAVE COURT IN ENGLAND, AND THE COLONISTS WERE DENIED THE RIGHT TO ELECT AN ASSEMBLY. COLONISTS UNITED AND SUPPORTED MASSACHUSETTS WITH SUPPLIES, AND ORGANIZED A MEETING OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM EACH COLONY AT THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

• HISTORY TELLS US THIS WAS FOUGHT BYCONNECTICUT “MINUTEMEN” AND BRITISH REGULARS • AFTER THE BOSTON TEA PARTY, THE KING DECLARED MASSACHUSETTS WAS : IN REBELLION. ”SIN APRIL, JOSEPH WARREN ( A MEMBER OF THESONS OF LIBERTY) FOUND OUT BRITISH TROOPS WOULD BE MARCHING FROMBOSTON TO CONCORD TO DESTROY WEAPONS THAT WERE BEING STORED THERE. • ON THE NIGHT OF APRIL 18 TH, 1775, AMERICAN PATRIOTS KNEW BRITISH TROOPS WOULD BE MOVING, THEY JUST DIDN’T KNOW WHEN OR WHERES. O PAUL REVERE (THE SAME GUY WHO MADE THE ENGRAVING OF THE B“LOODY MASSACRE”) TOLD THE LEADER OF A LOCAL CHURCH TO PUT ONE LANTERN IN THE STEEPLE IF THE BRITISH WERE COMING BY LAND, TWO IF BY SEA.

• UPON SEEING TWO LANTERNS, PAUL REVERE AND WILLIAM DAWES RODE THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE, INFORMING OTHERS WHO WOULD RIDE AND TELL MILITIA THAT THE “REGULARS WERE COMING OUT” • THEY EVENTUALLY MET IN LEXINGTON WITH SAMUEL ADAMS AND JOHN HANCOCK, AND DISCUSSED A PLAN OF ACTION • REVERE, DAWES, AND A DOCTOR S ( AMUEL PRESCOTT) WOULD LATER BE CAUGHT AND DETAINED BY BRITISH TROOPS, THOUGH PRESCOTT WOULD ESCAPE AND INFORM COLONIAL MILITIA ATCONCORD • REVERE WARNED THE BRITISH COMING FROM BOSTON THAT A LARGE NUMBER OF ANGRY MILITIA WOULD BE WAITING FOR THEM IF THEY DECIDED TO MARCH. HE AND OTHER CAPTIVES WERE ESCORTED TOWARDSLEXINGTON WHEN, HALF A MILE AWAY THEY HEARD A GUNSHOT • WHEN THE BRITISH OFFICER ASKED REVERE TO EXPLAIN THE SHOT, HE SAID IT WAS A SIGNAL TO “ALARM THE COUNTRY. ”

• THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON IS CONSIDERED THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. • THE BATTLE STARTED WHEN A GROUP OF COLONIAL MILITIAMEN METBRITISH TROOPS ON LEXINGTON’S TOWN GREEN(KIND OF LIKE THE CENTER OF TOWN) ON APRIL 19, 1775. • THE BRITISH WERE MARCHING FROM BOSTON TO LOOK FOR MILITARY SUPPLIES REPORTEDLY STORED IN CONCORD BY MEMBERS OF LOCAL MILITIAS • OTHER AMERICAN COLONISTS HAD GIVEN THE MILITIAMEN ADVANCE NOTICE OF THE BRITISH TROOPS’ MARCH TOWARDLEXINGTON AND CONCORD. • THE BATTLE WAS A CHAOTIC EVENT, AND THERE ARE MANY CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS OF WHAT TOOK PLACE. ONE OF THE MOST CONTESTED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON CONTINUES TO BE “WHO FIRED THE FIRST SHOT? ”

• HENRY SANDHAM – PAID BY THE LEXINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO CREATE THIS IN 1886 TO “COMMEMORATE THE HEROISM OF THEIR FOREFATHERS”. HE WAS FROM CANADA • THOMAS DOOLITTLE, A SILVERSMITH, MADE THE SECOND IMAGE, AN ENGRAVING, IN THE FALL OF 1775. • DOOLITTLE WAS A MEMBER OF ACONNECTICUT MILITIA THAT WAS CALLED UP TOCAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, FOLLOWING THE BATTLES OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. • HE WENT TO LEXINGTON AND SPOKE TO INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN THE BATTLE. AFTERWARDS, HE CREATED THE ENGRAVING.

SO… • THERE ARE OBVIOUSLY MANY DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS AND OPINIONS ON WHO FIRED THE FIRST SHOT AT THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON • WE JUST HAVE TO FIGURE OUT, IF WE CAN, WHO DID…