The Minutemen and Their World

This chapter explains “the transformation of Concord politics” through which the town became involved in the events leading up to the Revolutionary War (42). In late 1772, it was announced that the judges of the Superior Court of Judicature, Massachusetts’ highest court, would be paid directly by the monarchy rather than through the judicial system.

The formation of the Boston Committee of Correspondence was one important direct response to this development. The group was made up of twenty-one men, who would become leaders of the Revolutionary movement, and its purpose was to encourage and coordinate resistance to British rule throughout the colony. The group sent letters to towns throughout the area urging them to respond to this recent change in colonial administration. Concord did respond, and although its recent actions show an increase in anti-British sentiment, its response was much more moderate than that of many other towns.

Tensions escalated further with the 1773 passage of the Tea Act, which allowed the British East India Tea Company to sell its products directly to the colonies. Colonists, already alerted to encroachments on their rights from the British monarchy, interpreted this as a way to encourage tea consumption without conceding to demands to repeal the tax on tea. However, though Concordians expressed approval of the Boston Tea Party of January 10, 1774, they did not establish their own Committee of Correspondence, which the author interprets as a sign of their still only moderate commitment to the cause.

However, further moves to curtail colonists’ self-governance continued to shift opinion. After the Tea Party, the crown-appointed Mandamus Council was created, replacing an elected council that worked with the royal governor. The governor was also given new power over local government and appointing officials.

When the Boston Port Act of spring 1774 banned trade through Boston pending reimbursement for the lost tea, the Boston Committee of Correspondence drafted the Solemn League and Covenant, a pledge to boycott British goods beginning in September of that year. When they sent the document to the towns for signing, most were reluctant, but Concord signed their own, revised version. On August 30, Concord was the site of a meeting for Middlesex County to plan a response to the legislation that had come to be known as the Coercive Acts.

As Concord remained a focal point of growing revolutionary sentiment into the fall of 1774, it established its own committee of correspondence. The First Continental Congress took place from September 5 to October 26 in Philadelphia. There representatives from each colony met to create a unified response to the Coercive Acts. They created the Continental Association, a program of boycotts. Unlike Concord’s version of the Solemn League and Covenant, this included provisions for ostracizing individuals who did not commit to honoring the Association.

The Minutemen of the book’s title were created in response to the unsuccessful march on Cambridge. Volunteer soldiers were spread out on their farms and could not assemble on short notice, and in late 1774, Concord as well as several other towns voted to create a special force that could be assembled “at a minutes warning [sic]” (59).