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In Case Anyone Cares, the American Revolution Began 250 Years Ago Today
History changed on April 19, 1775
The world changed 250 years ago. Not that many people today will pause enough to notice or care. In many cases, they don’t care because they’re busy or distracted by other things. In some cases, they don’t care for political or ideological reasons. Well…
I care.
And so should you.
It was in the early morning hours of April 19, 1775, that the famous “shot heard ‘round the world” rang out — a shot that left eight men dead, set in motion the birth of a new nation, and changed the course of history.
At dawn on April 19, about eighty farmers and shopkeepers stood in a ragged formation on the village green of Lexington, Massachusetts.
They were there as a show of force to a British army marching from Boston into the Massachusetts countryside. Warned the night before of the British march, the men of Lexington were formed up to show colonial resolve against authoritarian encroachment from London.
They weren’t blocking the British soldiers. They just wanted the redcoats to see them as they marched by.
The redcoats saw them.