Battle+of+Lexington+and+Concord

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** (April 19, 1775) **

** On [|April 18, 1775], Paul Revere rode his horse through Lexington to Concord with his comrades. He carried the message for the independence. He warned everyone so they would be prepared to fight the British. They would be called the "Minutemen." Americans who will be "ready to fight in a minute." He also had warned [|John Hancock] and Samuel Adams, for they were to be captured by the British troops. ** ** In the early morning of April 19, 1775, the British troops finally showed up at Lexington Green and there, waiting for them was about 30-40 Americans with their commander, Captain Parker. He told his small troop, "Don't fire unless you are fired on; but if they want a war, let is begin here." That's when it happened. Someone fired and no one knows who did. The British and the Minutemen fought. The British killed many of the Minutemen and wounded more during the battle. The Minutemen that survived, ran into the woods to retreat. ** ** After the battle, Hancock and Adams escaped and the British were furious. So they went to Concord looking for ammunition at the farms nearby. They soon ran into a group of Minutemen, and they made the British retreat ** ** That was the end of the battle, but the beginning of the Revolutionary war. There was a big significance that happened that day. The famous poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, called the Battle of Lexington "the shot heard 'round the world." ** ** John Hancock (January 12, 1737-October 8, 1793) was born in [|Braintree, Massachusetts]. He was an orphan at a young age then adopted by a wealthy merchant who has no children. Getting older, he went to the Harvard College for business and graduated at the age of 17. He then worked with his uncle as a clerk and proved to him that he was capable of the business and was sent to England on a business mission. John Hancock became the wealthiest man while beginning his [|career] in boston. He had a sidekick with him which is Samuel Adams. **  **Samuel Adams (September 27, 1772-October 2, 1803) was a philosopher and one of the [|Founding Fathers] of the U.S. During the of Samuel being in a family that was religious and extremely political, he turned out to be a politician in Massachusetts. At first, he was an unsuccessful tax collector, but a simple Massachusetts meeting concerning politics caught his eye and started becoming political than he ever was. Samuel was one of the first people who fought for [|Independence]. He wrote letters, newspaper articles; just to get the word out to all the people. Some people who supported his ideas were John Hancock, Paul Revere and his cousin, John Adams.**  **Samuel Adams was known as a "troublemaker" or "the most dangerous man in Massachusetts." He basically was the person who started the Revolution with the Boston Tea Party and the Stamp Act. All he did was protest and got so many people on his side. He then signed the [|Declaration of Independence]. Soon in 1780, he helped draft the Massachusetts constitution and became the state's governor.**