The first England's treatment of Massachusetts aroused the colonists to send delegates to a meeting called "The First Continental Congress," which was held in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia. The Carpenters' Company knew that the king's officers might take their hall away for allowing the “rebels " to use it; but the only care they took was to mention no names on their record. They said merely, "Voted: That they be allowed to use our hall." The list of names is an honor roll of heroes. From Virginia came Washington, Henry Lee, Edmund Pendleton, and the wise and dignified Peyton Randolph, who became President of the Congress. Massachusetts sent Samuel and John Adams. Edward Rutledge came from South Carolina, Philip Livingston from New York, and other notable men from the different colonies. This Congress sent a respectful petition to the king, telling him frankly what rights they thought belonged to them and in what ways they thought they had been treated unfairly. SUMMARY. In the eighteenth century there were not so many inhabitants in the English colonies as there are now in New York and Philadelphia. Slavery was fast disappearing in the North, and was not always looked upon with favor in the South. Mails were slow, and postage was expensive. There were few books, and England's refusal to permit manufactures was arousing discontent among the colonists. England decided to tax the colonists because of the expense of the French wars and her wish to station an army in America to guard the colonies against the French. To raise the money, the trade laws were enforced, new duties were imposed, The colonists refused to buy English goods, and resisted the Stamp Act. The attempt to force English tea upon Boston resulted in the Boston Tea This treatment aroused the colonists to hold in Philadelphia the First Continental Congress, which sent a petition to the king. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Describe the journey of a postrider from New York to Philadelphia. A letter of sympathy to a Bostonian after the passing of the Port Bill. XVI THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION 1775. THE Americans had little hope that the king would pay any regard to their petition, and they were ready to fight rather than yield to injustice. In almost every colony companies were formed and drilled, while in various places arms and ammunition were stored. General Gage, who was at the head of the British troops in America, decided to send eight hundred of his men to Concord, Massachusetts, to seize the powder and cannon that he knew were there. Another thing that the troops were to do was to seize Samuel Adams and John Hancock, that they might be taken to England and tried for treason. POWDER-HOUSE NEAR BOSTON (Where the British seized some powder Sept. 1, 1774) This plan would have succeeded, but the Americans were on the watch, and before the British were ready to start, Paul Revere galloped through the darkness, past the villages and farmhouses on the way to Concord, telling every one that the Regulars were coming. Thousands of the Americans had become "minute men," that is, The battle of they had agreed to be ready to fight at a minute's notice. When Lexington The retreat of the British the British troops came to Lexington to seize John Hancock, there stood the minute men on the green. "Disperse, you rebels!" shouted the commander. "Lay down your arms and disperse!" Not one laid down his gun. "Fire!" cried the commander. In a moment, seven Americans lay dead, and the Revolution had begun. This was on April 19, 1775. At Concord the British began to destroy the arms, but so many minute men were upon them that there was nothing to do but to retreat to Boston. The farmers pursued. Longfellow tells the story of the retreat in his "Paul Revere's Ride: "How the British Regulars fired and fled, How the farmers gave them ball for ball, And only pausing to fire and load." Long afterwards, when Benjamin Franklin was in England, some one said that hiding behind a wall and firing was no way to fight. Franklin asked quietly, but with a sly twinkle in his eye, "Did n't those stone walls have two sides?" THE MINUTE MAN (D. C. French's statue at Concord) Colonists hasten to Boston Men whose names were to become well-known hurried to Boston, and although General Gage was in command of the British troops and had been appointed by the king governor of Massachusetts, he was really a prisoner in the city, for he was surrounded by many thousand Among these men was Israel Putnam, of Connecticut, who had left his plough in the field and started for Boston as soon as the news of the battle of Lexington reached him. There was also Benedict Arnold with sixty volunteers. Arnold suggested that Fort Ticonderoga, at the northern end of Lake George, ought men. to be captured, not only because there was in this fort a great supply of powder and guns, but because if no Americans were there to prevent, the British troops could come down from Canada and take New York. With the permission of Massachusetts, Arnold set out to raise troops in the western part of the state; but much to his surprise, The capture of Fort he found there Ethan Allen, a sturdy Vermonter, with his "Green Ticonderoga Mountain Boys," and they, too, were on the way to capture Fort Ticonderoga. Allen had more men, and the "Boys" would not fight under any one else, so Arnold went on, not as commander, but as a volunteer. The two men and the "Boys" came upon Ticonderoga when the garrison were fast asleep without a thought of danger. The commander was suddenly aroused by a demand to "Surrender!" He jumped out of bed, not more than half awake, and said, "To whom? By whose authority?" "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," roared Ethan Allen, and the fort was surrendered. This was only three weeks after the battle of Lexington. On that same day, the Second Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia. John Hancock, whom the king was so anxious to catch, was made president. Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and his cousin John Adams, Patrick Henry, the great patriotic orator, and Washington, were all members of this Congress. They knew that war must come, and they adopted the forces around Boston as the "Continental Army." A commander-in-chief must be chosen, and every one remembered how skillfully Washington had saved part of Braddock's army at Fort Duquesne ized ETHAN ALLEN (From the statue in the Vermont Stats House, Montpelier) Continental when he was only twenty-three years of age. He was from the large colony of Virginia, and the election of a southern commander for an army which was as yet made up wholly of northern men would help to strengthen the union among the colonies, so Washington was elected commander-in-chief. SAMUEL ADAMS (From Copley's portrait) He set out on horseback for the eleven days' ride to Boston, but before he had gone many miles from Philadelphia, he heard what had happened in the east. General Gage was in Boston, and the American troops were in a half circle around the city. Gage knew that if they should come a little nearer and fortify Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, they could fire into his The battle of Hill. The Americans found out JOHN ADAMS (From a portrait by Trumbull) lars, and he decided to storm the hill. The Americans had too little powder to waste a single charge. "Wait, boys, wait till you |