1.2 – Who Shot First?

A Republic If You Can Keep It Chapter 1 – Movements Leading to Independence (Overview) 1.2 – Who Shot First?

The Shot Heard ‘Round The World

The final incident to ignite the fire of independence was a letter from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Dartmouth, giving General Gage, the British military commander in Boston, authority to use force to strike at once against any known militia activities.¹

Today, the concept of militias is greatly misunderstood. However, in colonial America, the militia was a vital part of a community and something in which nearly all able bodied men participated. The history of militias in the colonies dates far back in American history to the Pilgrims. Miles Standish was one of the original Pilgrims to make the trek on the Mayflower to the new world¹²

This letter from Lord Dartmouth that gave General Gage the ability to curtail colonial militia activities was thus seen as yet another blatant affront to tradition, liberty, and self-governance.

This action leads us to April 19, 1775, where we find ourselves on the village green of Lexington, Massachusetts on the road to Concord. Gage had dispatched soldiers to seize a small storage of militia weapons and gunpowder at Concord.¹³ Though not directly ordered, Gage’s informers told him he could find and capture John Hancock and Sam Adams, leaders of the Boston colonials, staying at the home of the Rev. Jonas Clarke in Lexington.¹⁴ Paul Revere and William Dawes rode through the night to warn the people of Lexington and Concord of the approaching Red Coat army. Though stopped by a British patrol, Revere still made it to Rev. Clarke’s house in order to help Hancock and Adams evade capture.¹⁵ Rev. Clarke also happened to be the man responsible for starting the militia there in Lexington.

Even though Adams and Hancock evaded Gage, the British General was still set on taking the store of militia weapons and gunpowder in the town of Concord. However, in order to reach Concord, the British must go through the patriot hot-bed of Lexington. The local militia, led by Captain John Parker, were not going to let the British pass without a fight.

There at Lexington Green, the Minutemen of the area stood their ground against the approaching British Red Coats. The British demanded that the militia men lay down their arms and disperse. Captain Parker urged his men to stand steady and is reported to have said, “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” Then suddenly, someone fired “the shot heard round the world.”¹⁶ The American War for Independence had begun.

As did many other clergy, on the first anniversary of that event, Rev. Clarke preached a memorial sermon where he declared that he helped train the Minutemen “for that very hour.” He laid out a detailed case for the evidence that the British fired first and the Americans were acting in self-defense.¹⁷ This was very important to the colonists because of their belief in “just war.”

John Jay, Founding Father and first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote a long treatise on what biblically constituted a “just war.” In that letter, he stated, “Thus two kinds of justifiable warfare arose: one against domestic malefactors; the other against foreign aggressors. The first being regulated by the law of the land; the second by the law of nations; and both consistently with the moral law.”

It was this studied belief in “just war” and not revolting without cause that led the colonists to the conclusion that their actions in response to Great Britain’s violations of liberty were justified.