4.6 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 April 2017
⏱️ 92 minutes
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On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode to Lexington, Massachusetts to spread the alarm that the Regulars were marching. Revere made several important rides between 1774 and 1775, including one in September 1774 that brought the Suffolk Resolves to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
So why is it that we remember Paul Revere’s ride to Lexington and not any of his other rides?
Why is it that we remember Paul Revere on the night of April 18, 1775 and nothing about his life either before or after that famous ride?
Why is it that Paul Revere seems to ride quickly into history and then just as quickly out of it?
In this episode we speak with four scholars to explore Paul Revere’s ride through history.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/130
About the Series
The mission of episodes in the Doing History: To the Revolution series is to ask not just “what is the history of the American Revolution?” but “what are the histories of the American Revolution?”
Episodes in this series will air beginning in Fall 2017.
The Doing History series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.
Be sure to check out Doing History season 1: Doing History: How Historians Work.
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| 0:00.0 | Support for Ben Franklin's world and the Doing History to the Revolution series comes from the |
| 0:05.2 | Omaha Institute of Early American History and Culture. The red coats, coats are marching. |
| 0:13.0 | The regulars are coming out. Turn out! |
| 0:26.0 | On the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere made his famous ride to Lexington, Massachusetts |
| 0:35.5 | to warn John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and the townspeople that the regulars were marching. |
| 0:41.3 | In response to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, Parliament passed a series of acts in 1774, known as a coercive acts. |
| 0:49.0 | These laws were designed to punish Boston and to reign in its rebelliousness. |
| 0:54.3 | Ultimately, Parliament hoped that the coercive acts would turn the people of Massachusetts |
| 0:59.0 | against Boston. |
| 1:00.5 | Parliament hoped that the Bay Colonists would pressure the Bostonians to submit to imperial control. |
| 1:06.0 | Instead, the actions sense the people of Massachusetts and cause them to arm for war. |
| 1:12.0 | Hoping to avoid armed conflict and to bring the Bay colony back into line, |
| 1:16.0 | British General Thomas Gage ordered Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith |
| 1:20.0 | to march a force out by the Lexington Road, |
| 1:22.0 | quote, with the utmost expedition in secret. to march a force out by the Lexington Road, |
| 1:22.5 | quote, with the utmost expedition and secrecy to conquered, |
| 1:26.0 | where you will seize and destroy all artillery, ammunition, provisions, |
| 1:30.0 | tents, small arms, and all military stores whatever, end quote. |
| 1:35.0 | About 700 British regulars took part in this expedition. |
| 1:39.0 | Patriot leaders discovered Gage's plan |
| 1:42.0 | and ordered Paul Revere to ride to Lexington to spread the alarm. |
| 1:45.0 | Revere made an important ride on the night of April 18, but it wasn't his first ride as a Patriot |
... |
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