Chapter 2: The shot heard round the world

But this fails, and on April 19, 1775, a force of 90 British Regulars sent to arrest agitators in Lexington and Concord are attacked and repulsed by some 400 American “minutemen” in the “shot heard round the world.” Three weeks later, a “Second Continental Congress” convenes to debate a permanent split with England. But the “Loyalists” at the convention carry the day, with an “Olive Branch Petition” being sent to the King.

As this attempt at diplomacy grinds on, so too does the de facto Revolutionary War. The Americans strike first, heading north along the Hudson River to Lake Champlain where they occupy Ft. Ticonderoga, a pivotal British outpost in the prior French & Indian War, long since abandoned. The plan from there is to organize a strike north against the citadel of Quebec City. But first comes the attempt to dislodge the British from their stronghold at Boston. This begins with an initial Americans siege from the north on Charleston peninsula which is turned back at Bunker Hill in June 1775. While General Washington waits for additional cannons, he decides to mount the offensive against Quebec City. But it too fails in December 1775 when the Americans suffer a crucial defeat on the Plains of Abraham, west of the city. This ends American ambitions north of the border.

In January 1776 a heroic transportation effort by Colonel Henry Knox brings 54 heavy mortars from Ft. Ticonderoga to Dorchester Heights across the southern bay from Boston. Seeing this decisive addition of firepower, General William Howe signals Washington that he will exit Boston without burning it, if the American hold their fire. Washington agrees and British ships carry their troops out of the city in March.

Buoyed by this success, the Second Continental Congress reconvenes and, on July 4, 1776, some fifteen months after the bloodshed began, the Declaration of Independence is approved. The delegates agree on a list of thirty-seven British abuses, while tellingly vetoing one that Jefferson himself pens: a crime “against human nature itself,” introducing slavery into the colonies, and then “suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce.” The new United States are adamant about seeking their freedom from the crown, but still unwilling to grant freedom to their slaves.