The document discusses both early and modern minutemen. Early minutemen were militia members in the American colonies who helped defend against Indian attacks and played important roles in the battles of Lexington and Concord during the Revolutionary War. Modern minutemen formed in 2005 with the goal of monitoring the US-Mexico border for illegal immigration, which generated both support and criticism from various groups. There is debate around whether modern minutemen respect or betray the legacy of the early minutemen and their role in American history and culture.

1. Minutemen
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PIONEERS OF THE
EARLY USA

2. Table of contents
 Early Minutemen
 Definition
 Context
 Role
 Modern minutemen
 Context
 Role
 Public and civil reactions
 Debate

3. Early minutemen (1)
 ¼ of the militia of the American
colonies.
 Who were they?
 Settlers, farmers, workmen, between
16 and 25 years old
 Where does the name
“minuteman” come from?
 Decompose the word and try to guess!

4. Early Minutemen (2)
 Context
 Indian wars
 French and Indian War
 American Revolutionary War
 Mission
 Skirmishers and sharpshooters :Harassment
of enemy's troops
 Sabotage
 Glory facts
 Battles of Lexington and Concord
 All the other battles of the Revolutionary War

5. Modern minutemen and their mission
 The “Minuteman Project”
 Activist organization created by a group of
private individuals.
 Since April 2005
 Founder Jim Gilchrist ->
 Missions:
 Monitor the United States–Mexico
border's flow of illegal immigrants.
 Attract media attention to illegal
immigration

6. Modern Minutemen: Facts
 Incidents
 Garden Grove incident
 T-shirt incident
 August 2007 fake murder video
 Relations with the US Border Patrol
 Not one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent about the
Minutemen.
 “These people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents;
they're courteous. Many of them are retired
firefighters, cops, and other professionals, and they're not
causing us any problems whatsoever”

7. Modern Minutemen: Public and civic reaction
 Support
 California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: “They do a
terrific job”
 Council of Conservative Citizens (white nationalism & white
separatism political organization)
 Criticism
 Controversy launched by former Mexican President Vicente
Fox.
 Minutemen are depicted as the villains in the 2010 Robert
Rodriguez film Machete.
 The Latino criminal organization MS13 claimed that it would
target the Minutemen.

8. Debate
 Do you think modern Minutemen respect or betray
the legacy of the early Minutemen?
 Do you mean it is a specific trait of American early
culture or an inappropriate recuperation of a heroic
legacy?

9. Fin
FOR MORE INFORMATIONS:
HTTP://WWW.USHISTORY.ORG/PEOPLE/MINUTEMEN.HTM
HTTP://WWW.MINUTEMANPROJECT.COM/