WHAT A GLORIOUS MORNING!
When Paul Revere came galloping into Lexington, after warning the countryside that the British were coming to seize the powder and shot, he roused Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were staying with friends.
Paul Revere was come to warn them also; for the British General Gage had given orders for their arrest, and intended to send them to England to be tried for high treason.
The British Government was specially afraid of John Hancock, one of the most daring and active of the Boston Patriots. “The terrible desperado,” he was called by that Government.
While he and Samuel Adams were escaping from Lexington and hurrying across some fields Samuel Adams exclaimed:—
“Oh, what a glorious morning is this!”
It was the morning of the Battle of Lexington, when the shot was fired that was heard round the world.
After the Second Continental Congress opened, John Hancock was chosen to preside, while the Congress discussed how to defend the Country.
JOHN TO SAMUEL
New England was in arms. Lexington and Concord had been fought, and Boston was being besieged by the New England Army.