DBQ Battle at Lexington and Concord

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DBQ Battle at Lexington and Concord

Battle of Lexington and Concord included different type of situations on how the
battle started if you look at a Loyalist's perspective compared to a Patriotic prospective.
The most important event that occurred in this battle was the "shot heard round the
world." which is demonstrated different in both of the documents. In the document of
General Gage's Account of the late Battle of Boston stated that the first men to fire were
the Americans while in the Document about the King's troops under the command of
General Gage which was written but a patriot claimed that the British were the first to
shoot with their blood thirst to kill some colonists. Despite the biased opinions shown in
the two documents one can determine that the "shot heard round the world" was first
fired through the British. To enforce that one can understand why the British were the
first to shoot is by the military, political, and social stand point of each other the
documents.
The military standpoint of the British was the first factor to convincing why they
were the first to shoot in the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The document of Battle of
Boston promotes this idea of the first shot by the British indicating how the military was
cowering and becoming scared of distant gun fires being shot by colonists to warn near
by colonists of a possible sneak attack. This document also supports the British shooting
by indicating that General Gage and the troops were ready for a battle and were
predicting to fight 500 men but when they met their forces they only seen about 200 men.
These men were ready for a fight and were scared to die, they entered a survival mode
and once the colonists broke off and ran away stated in both the Battle of Boston
document and the Narrative document the British were eager to follow these colonists
even though their true mission was to reach the military stores. The British military
mission changed from tracking down a store to hunting down these colonists showing
their desires to kill these colonists which can be indicated in the two Documents of Battle
of Boston, A Narrative, and the Poem of General Gage's confession that these soldiers
killed several of the country people, they "thirst for BLOOD and rushed on... firing on
this small party," which the small party were colonists, and last the poem states that
"Some few Americans have bled, 'tis true, but 'twas the soldiers kill'd them, and not you."
The poem states that Gage didn't harm any soldiers but his troops definitely did. The
military standpoint changed from the British orders from searching military shops to
killing colonists who were not even engaging into a battle but instead doing the opposite
and dispersing and running away from the soldiers.
The military standpoint is not the only standpoint that can persuade one that the
British were the first to fire in the battle at Lexington and Concord, their political views
and standpoints also affected their choice of the first shot into the battle. In General
Gage's Account it states the by the Majesty's orders they were to search for military stores
which was their first intention from the march of Boston to Concord. As the soldiers were
marching to the Concord they heard scattered warning shot made by the colonials which
first indicated that the colonists were scared that soldiers since the Indian-French war
were living in their homes due to an English policy that forced homes to take care of
British soldiers and the colonists feared that these soldiers were about to pop out and
surprise strike them. The second effect this created was that the British soldiers were
angry and scared that the Colonists may be making an army to face the Majesty. These
soldiers came from Boston which was already under major rebellion groups and had new
political views that opposed the political views of the British. Instead of compromising
with the Patriotic colonists, the British continued to pass Acts to gain more strict control
over the Americans and continued to bring more British troops to handle the riots. There
were already political disagreements between the British and Patriotic colonists and the
British were influenced even more to fire the first shot. The British were persuaded to fire
this first shot due to their political purpose of maintaining order and following the King's
orders which can be indicated by the Poem of General Gage's confession on where "Who
could a monarch's favourite wish deny?" and the political standpoint to stop the Patriots
from building this army that was created to go against the British Majesty and his
government which can be demonstrated in the document General Gage's Account. The
political purpose to Concord was a task by Majesty to bring order to these New England
colonists by searching and stopping these military stores but the political view point
changed by the Britain when they heard an army against the Majesty was being formed.
The political and military standpoints of the Battle of Lexington and Concord are
great evidence that the "shot head round the world" was made by the British but the
greatest standpoint is the social point of view seen in the British and the Colonists. The
document of General Gage's Account mentions the British Army leaving the town of
Boston which is the heart of the Patriot colonists causing many enraged Britain soldiers
and loyalists toward these patriots. That evidence makes it very likely that the Britain
troops heading towards Concord already built hatred towards the Patriots. Indicated in A
Narrative, the document states that "unless attacked were determined to be peaceable
spectators," which shows that many of that Patriots were too scared or had a social
respect or fear towards this group that paralyzed them from making the first strike against
them Illustrated in General Gage's Account, as the soldiers marched at night from 10 pm
to 3 pm they heard gun fires everywhere they went in the pitch dark and were becoming
too focused on a war against the patriots that they ignored their true mission of searching
the military shops. In the picture of Battle of Lexington one can see the hatred towards
the social group of Patriots from the British soldiers who were much more powerful than
the colonists and were ready to fire while the patriots had their guns still pointing at the
sky. The fire in the picture also indicates the British start of war creating a fire on the
colonist’s side. The British already had social hatred towards these colonists through their
lack of loyalty to their motherland and their rebellious attitudes towards the British laws..
The social standpoint was the main evidence that the Britain already had strong tensions
between the Patriotic social group making it not difficult for the British soldiers to fire
the first shot.
Ignoring the biased opinions found through these documents, one can still
conclude that the British were the first to shoot the "shot heard round the world" in the
battle of Lexington and Concord. Although the British lost the fight at Lexington they
were still the first to start the fight in Concord. Through the evidence of the military
standpoint, the political standpoint, and the political standpoint one can see that most of
the evidence leads to the British starting the battle. The significance of this question is it
sparked the American Revolution leading Patriots to believe they have a chance at
victory due to the victory over the battle of Lexington and Concord. Also, its caused fear
in the British to take initiative and start bring down this independent Patriot military and
group. If the battle of Lexington and Concord the Revolutionary War may have never
occurred. The battle of Lexington and Concord brought up the moral of the Patriot
soldiers and influenced many colonists to join their cause while weakening that British's
morality, political control, and influence on the colonies.

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