It's March 6th, 1775. American Independence is 486 days away.

 

On an unseasonably warm day in Boston that feels like an early dawn of spring, hundreds of citizens have crowded inside the Old South Meeting House, with thousands more gathering outside.

 

The crowd has come together to witness a set of orations to honor the anniversary and victims of the famous Boston Massacre, which happened five year and 1 day earlier.  Around 11:00 am, as the crowd waited in impatient silence for the memorial to begin, a carriage approaches carrying a man dressed in attire that sent the crowd instantly into murmurs.

 

Dressed in an elaborate and symbolic 20 foot long Roman republic style toga, Joseph Warren approached the pulpit at the front of the meeting house and began to deliver a speech that none in attendance would ever forget.

 

In our episode this month I am going to look at the strange days of limbo that were the days of March 1775. While war had not broken into the open yet, Patriot leaders in Boston like John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Joseph Warren all knew that fighting could come at any moment. All of the uncertainty and fear of looming future conflict created a situation of extreme tension around the colony of Boston, where it felt as if the sword might drop at any minute.

 

The mounting pressure of these last days before the dawn of war can be perfectly capture by a pair of speech very different but equally powerful delivered during the month. In Boston, Joseph Warren would capture the crowd’s attention with a call for holding onto peace while it lasted, while also not forgoing his willingness to defend American liberty by force if necessary. Meanwhile, in Virginia the young lawyer named Patrick Henry would deliver an even more famous address, one where he would lay out his own vision for the future and issue a call of defiance that would become an iconic part of American history.

 

Sources:

Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by Woody Holton

 

American Insurgents, American Patriots by T.H. Breen

 

The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III by Andrew Roberts

 

The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy

 

Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer

 

Patrick Henry: Champion of Liberty by Jon Kukla

 

Lexington and Concord: The Battle Heard Round the World By George C. Daughan

 

Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution's Lost Hero by Christian Di Spigna

 

Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick