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By Root 1145 0

congress will offer. The king’s hostility and impatience grows, and he inflames the protests by sweeping away many of the limited freedoms the colonists already enjoy. To quiet what he believes are assaults on his absolute authority, he sends his army to Boston, to occupy the city. Under General Thomas Gage, the British begin to demonstrate their power, confiscating arms and supplies used by local militia and declaring the Sons of Liberty criminals. In April 1775, Gage sends the army across the Massachusetts countryside on a mission to capture colonial munitions and, if possible, to capture Sam Adams. The outrage from the local citizenry results in a surprising show of militia, which results in the battles of Lexington and Concord. Concord is a British disaster, and Gage’s men retreat back to Boston, pursued by angry citizens who exact a horrifying toll on the British troops. Emboldened by their success, the militia continues to organize, and they fortify a position on the Charlestown peninsula, overlooking Boston itself. With his position in the city now threatened, Gage orders the British army to sweep the colonial rabble off the peninsula. Twenty-five hundred British regulars march against the militia, and in what becomes known as the Battle of Breed’s (or Bunker) Hill, the British succeed in capturing the ground, but lose an astonishing forty percent of their men. For the first time, the British army realizes that it may be facing far more than a band of farmers who will run merely at the sight of a line of redcoats. Requiring a scapegoat for the embarrassment of Breed’s Hill, King George replaces Thomas Gage with General William Howe, and strengthens the armed presence in Boston. But the militia continues to gather and organize, and the British are quickly sealed into the city.

The Continental Congress is slow to adopt any measures that will further inflame an already dangerous situation, but through the efforts of Sam Adams and his cousin John, and the sympathy toward the New Englanders from the influential representatives from Virginia, notably Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, the congress agrees to appoint a commander in chief to go to Boston and assume command of what has become a blend of militia from several colonies. Since their primary concern is the selection of a man with experience, their choice is Colonel George Washington, of the Virginia Militia. Washington accepts with extreme reluctance and goes to Boston to present his commission to men who have no use for such an outsider. Washington exhibits astounding patience, and a skill at choosing subordinates, and gradually, the ragged militia units begin to take shape as an army.

In an astounding stroke of tactical skill, in one single night, Washington occupies Dorchester Heights, south of Boston, and General Howe wakes to find his entire position within range of colonial cannon. Rather than attack Washington’s army, Howe abandons Boston.

In Philadelphia, the Continental Congress has continued lengthy and rancorous debate, many men of great influence still clinging to the notion that America must remain part of Britain and remain loyal to the king. Facing a nearly hopeless deadlock, the congress is stunned to learn that King George has declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion, that any hope of reconciliation or compromise has been swept away by the hand of the monarch, who will accept nothing but the complete capitulation of his subjects. The move sways the congress to begin, for the first time, talk of independence.

While the congress debates, the American people have begun to read a pamphlet, written by an unknown expatriate Englishman named Thomas Paine. “Common Sense” finds its way to every street corner and public square, and the logic and clarity of Paine’s arguments against the rule of monarchy sway American public opinion far more effectively than anything the congress has done. Realizing that the citizenry is far more willing to pursue a course of independence than they are, more voices in the congress call for a formal declaration.