Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere Essay Research

Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere Essay, Research Paper

“One if by land, two if by sea”– the supposed famous words spoken by Paul Revere to Colonel William Conant, an American soldier stationed in the steeple of the North Church in Boston, waiting to relay the signal of the intended path of the British invasion on April 18, 1775 (The Glorious Cause 268) to Paul Revere. According to the legend Paul Revere was to be positioned across the Boston Bay from the North Church waiting for the signal from Colonel Conant. The Colonel was to hang one lantern in the steeple of the church if the British showed signs of an invasion on land, or display two lanterns in the spire if evidence existed a sea invasion by the British. Once Paul Revere saw the two signal lanterns hanging in the steeple, signaling the imminent approach by sea of the British forces, he began his ride from Charlestown to Lexington to Concord (Lancaster 94), warning the citizens of these towns of an approaching British invasion. So began the famed “midnight ride of Paul Revere,” a ride which warned the colonists of an approaching revolution that would shape the future of America.

During the early formation stages of our country, there came a time when the overpowering mother country of Britain imposed a new system of taxation to control the colonies and the colonists. The Sugar Act of 1764 was the first step in bringing the new taxation system into affect. The Sugar Act , which replaced the Molasses Act of 1733, was designed to raise revenue without regulating the trading system that the colonies had established. Soon, Britain began to establish methods of taxation without any method of representation of the colonies (The American Revolution; an HTML project). This taxation without representation had angered the colonists. The power of Parliament to tax the colonies for the purpose of trade regulation had always been accepted in theory, but not always in practice. But the ability of Parliament to tax for improving the revenue of the kingdom was something new to the colonists. The power the Parliament did have with regards to taxation of the colonies was stated in the Revenue Act of 1764 and since the power of taxation for the improvement of the kingdom was new to the colonists, it was debatable. The last system of taxation that was opposed on the colonists was the Stamp Act of 1765. Under the Stamp Act, an official revenue stamp was to placed on any official document, license, lease, land transaction, pamphlet, or newspaper. The colonists and even the British merchants debated the series of taxes with the Parliament. The British merchants felt the effects of the boycotts by the colonies and in 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act and modified the Sugar Act after much pressure of British merchants. In 1767, a whole new series of measures was introduced by Charles Townshend, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was called on by the Parliament to set up an entirely new fiscal program regarding the colonies. Townshend s plan included the reduction of taxes upon the colonies by the British by making the collection of duties levied on American trade more efficient. Townshend s plan also included the tightening of the customs administration and put duties on paper, lead, glass, and tea (The American Revolution; an HTML project). The Boston Tea Party was an obvious demonstration of the colonists disgust in their treatment from Britain. A group of patriots, dressed as Mohawk Indians, had boarded a fleet of British ships and destroyed 23,000 pounds of monopolized tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor (The American Revolution an A&E presentation). After, the British Parliament continued to repeatedly repress the colonies, but other governments rallied to the aid of the colonists. And on May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress met and they realized what had to be done (The American Revolution; an HTML project).

Listen my children and you shall hear

Of 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.(Longfellow)

It was decided that, on Saturday, April 15, 1775, something was going to happen. A move by the British was truly inevitable. Paul Revere was to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock, both staying with the Reverend Jonas Clark in Lexington (Lancaster 94), of the probable British invasion. Not only was Revere to notify Adams and Hancock of a possible invasion, he was also to direct the two patriots to hide the Concord munitions supply. On his way back to Boston, Paul Revere stopped in Charlestown to seek out some of the patriots and militiamen to set up a signal plan to relay the path of the British attack to Revere and other messengers (Middlekauff 267). He found Colonel William Conant, a patriot and militiaman of the area. Revere and Contant decided on using lanterns to relay the signal to the messengers. Conant was to hang one lantern in the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston if the British were to start their campaign on land, or two lanterns in the steeple if the British were to begin the push by sea. Once the order was given, Paul Revere made his way back across Boston Bay by skiff to the Cambridge shores to await the signal. During his trek across the bay, he glided right under the H.M.S. Somerset. On the shores of Cambridge awaited his horse, an an