Paul Revere is famous for participating in the Boston Tea Party. Then on April 18,1775 he rode to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams when the British were to come. This was his greatest moment, but we don't have the backstory. Paul Revere’s ride was the culmination of several years of him leading a grassroots effort as New England’s most active community organizer. Revere organized an intelligence network called the Sons of Liberty to help colonists in the fight against the British. His activism created a network of communication and acquisition of firearms that allowed community militias to quickly move to intercept the British.
The people behind Revere:
His connections were community leaders, and they also engaged their community to help in the endeavor: John Pulling who was active in colonial politics and Robert Newman, who was of a prominent family, both members of the Old North Church, and Thomas Bernard, a neighbor. Joshua Bentley and Thomas Richardson helped row him silently across the Charles River without being seen by any British ships. John Larkin supplied Revere with Brown Beauty, a beloved prize of the family and happened to be one of the fastest horses in Charlestown. Other local leaders who were part of the team that made Revere's ride a success were: Isaac Hall, Richard Devens, Ebenezer Stedman, Benjamin Locke and Soloman Bowman.
Experience an interactive journey of Paul Revere's ride. Click here.
Revere's ride was memorialized in poetry.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote:
So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere
North Carolina's rebellious history:
North Carolina stood against tyrannical forces of government first on April 12,1776, when it became the first state to call for independence from Great Britain. The same spirit of independence underlies the message of using Article V to restore the balance of power and the proper relationship, between the people through state legislatures, and the federal government.
Reviving the spirit of 1776:
The North Carolina Convention of States grassroots carried the message statewide, advocating for the hope of an Article V Convention of States, a solution that has never been utilized in this country.
Reflection on 2024
2024 saw many successes for the team. Activists networked and hosted events throughout the state to educate people about curbing federal government overreach and restoring the balance of power. They demonstrated their self-governance and leadership by example, working in elections as poll greeters and poll watchers in both mid-term and general elections. They were active in COS election activities to support candidates who advocate for an Article V Convention of States. They visited the capitol, engaged with their legislators, wrote articles for the Convention of States website which get shared on social media, and wrote letters to the editor with several being published online, and an article was published in the Monroe County Enquirer Journal. The NC Convention of States Action team will use the momentum gained in 2024 to build on the grassroots efforts achieved in 2024.
Join the movement. Sign the petition. Get engaged with the volunteer team.
