Title page of Common Sense, the anonymously written and widely distributed pamphlet that converted thousands of colonists to the Revolutionary cause.
About 77 militiamen confronted the redcoats when they plodded into Lexington at dawn. After some tense moments, as the sorely outnumbered colonials were dispersing, blood was shed. More flowed at Concord and much more along the route of the British as they retreated to Boston, harassed most of the way by an aroused citizenry. What had once been merely protest had evolved into open warfare; the War for Independence had begun.
Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, did not emigrate to America from England until 1774, but he became an ardent patriot.
Sir William Howe, British commander in chief in America from 1776 until 1778.
The Second Continental Congress convened in the Pennsylvania State House at Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. Burdened by wartime realities and the need to prepare a unified defense, it created a Continental Army, unanimously elected George Washington as commander in chief, appointed other generals, and tackled problems of military finance and supply. Yet, despite these warlike actions, many Delegates still hoped for a peaceful reconciliation.
Robert R. Livingston of New York, the most conservative member of the drafting committee, neither voted on independence nor signed the Declaration.