The Day the Revolution Began: Lexington and Concord at 250

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, historians Rick Atkinson, author of The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777; Mary Beth Norton, author of 1774: The Long Year of Revolution; and Rosemarie Zagarri, author of Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic, explore the events leading to the first shots of the American Revolution, the battles themselves, and the colonists’ response to this pivotal moment in history. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

Resources

• Rick Atkinson, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, (2019)
• Rick Atkinson, The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, (2025)
• Mary Beth Norton, 1774: The Long Year of Revolution, (2020)
• Mary Beth Norton, Liberty’s daughters: The Revolutionary experience of American women, 1750-1800, (1980)
• Rosemarie Zagarri, Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic, (2008)
• Rosemarie Zagarri, A Woman’s Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution (2nd ed. 2014)
• Townshend Act (1767)
• The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party (Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation)
• The Intolerable Acts (Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation)
• Joseph Warren, “Our Country Is In Danger but Not To Be Despaired Of,” (March 6, 1775)

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