Representatives from all colonies except Georgia met at the First Continental Congress to object to recent acts of Parliament while still declaring loyalty to the king. They agreed not to import or export goods to Britain and decided to meet again if their concerns went unaddressed. On the night of April 18, 1775, British troops left to destroy arms stockpiled in Concord but were warned by Paul Revere and others, resulting in the first shots of the Revolutionary War being fired at Lexington where 8 colonists died, beginning the war in earnest.

1. First Continental Congress
• Representatives from all colonies except
Georgia
• It voiced their objections to the recent acts of
Parliament
• Declared loyalty to the king
• Agreed not to import anything from Britain
and not to export anything to Britain
• Decided to meet again if their pleas were not
answered

6. • Colonists expected Britain to repeal the
Intolerable Acts
• Britain was determined to force the rebellious
colonists to submit

7. • British General Thomas Gage heard about a
stockpile of arms and ammunition in Concord,
Massachusetts
• He ordered his men to find it and destroy it
• British troops left on April 18, 1775 at night
• Paul Revere, Samuel Prescott and William
Dawes saw them and warned the colonists.

12. William Dawes

13. • The British met up with the minutemen at
Lexington
• Someone shot and then the British opened
fire
• This is the “shot heard around the world”
• 8 colonists were dead

15. • British continued to Concord and burned the
stockpile
• The colonists stop them at Concord Bridge and
force the British to retreat
• They had to retreat through the colonists.
• This started the Revolutionary War