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Outbreak
British victory in the Seven Years War (1756-63) sowed the seeds of the revolt, for it freed the colonists from the need for British protection against the French threat on their frontier. It also gave free reign to the forces working for independence. The British wanted to increase taxes and make the colonies pay for their defence. The colonists argued only their own popular assemblies, not the British Parliament, had a right to levy taxes. The most unpopular tax was the Stamp Act of 1765 which decreed that all legal documents were invalid unless the bearer had paid for an official stamp.
View of the Taking of Quebec, 13 September 1759.
Coloured engraving published by Laurie and Whittle, 53 Fleet Street, London, 1 November 1797.
NAM. 1971-02-33-314
In December 1773 the colonists dumped a cargo of British tea into Boston harbour in protest at the Crown's attempt to tax. In response, the government introduced a series of measures known as 'Intolerable Acts', which closed the port of Boston and put Massachusetts under military rule. Previously the colonies had been allowed to develop with little interference. London was attempting to tighten its political control. Many colonists were convinced that their economic prosperity and their liberty were at stake. As the dispute continued, they gradually took over the local militias and started arming and drilling.
John Malcolm, a British customs officer captured by the Boston mob, January 1774.
Engraving by F Godefroy and N Ponce, published in Paris, c1783.
NAM. 1971-02-33-5-2
Acting on intelligence that the militia were stockpiling weapons, Major-General Gage ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith to march his 800 men to Concord, Massachusetts, and seize the arms. Smith encountered a group of militiamen at Lexington Green. As these part-time soldiers had undertaken to turn out at a minute’s notice should the British attack they were nicknamed 'Minute-men'. After a brief skirmish, with few casualties on either side, the Americans withdrew.
The British then pressed on to Concord Bridge where a larger engagement was fought that led to a fighting retreat to Boston. Within two days, 15,000 men from across New England had assembled and surrounded the British troops in Boston.
The Battle of Lexington, 19 April 1775.
Engraving by C Tiebout after E Tisdale, 29 Gold Street, New York, January 1798.
NAM. 1971-02-33-224
The episode was not a serious military defeat, but was politically disastrous for the British. The violence turned a colonial revolt against British economic policy into a fight for political independence. Lexington and Concord led many Americans to support this 'Revolution'. The Continental Congress, a body representing the 13 North American Colonies’ opposition to British policy, would soon adopt and sponsor the armed rebels into the beginnings of a 'Continental Army'. George Washington was appointed its Commander-in-Chief.
General George Washington, 1776.
Mixed method engraving by M Ruet, published c1876.
NAM. 1994-11-46
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