It's September 1st, 1774. American Independence is 672 days away.

While representatives from 12 of the 13 American colonies are about to convene in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress, urgent rumors have begun to spread across New England. Word has risen up that Boston is under attack, and before the next day is over, thousands of minutemen will take up their muskets and head off to fight in a war that might not have actually begun.

In our episode this month we’ll split time between Philadelphia and New England, looking at how the dramatic events that came to be known as the Powder Alarm served as a dress rehearsal for the revolution that was soon to come. Over the course of a few days in early September two radically different groups of patriots, one the representatives of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia and the other made up of common farmers from across New England, demonstrated for the first time how much change might be possible with a truly united American cause.

Sources:

1774: The Long Year of Revolution by Mary Beth Norton

American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 by Alan Taylor

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

Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution by Natheniel Philbrick

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

John Adams by David McCullough

Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791 by Richard D. Brown