Last September, as the nation reeled from the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I found myself standing on the Lexington Green in Massachusetts contemplating “the shot heard round the world” in a whole new light.
Although I was not a personal friend of Charlie Kirk’s, he felt like one of our own. His violent death captured on video was painfully fresh as I toured key sites of the American Revolution last fall with father-son historians, David and Tim Barton and Bill and Michael Federer.
By contrast, Pastor Jonas Clark lost friends and parishioners at the hands of British soldiers in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775. The night before, Pastor Clark was meeting in his home with Samuel Adams and John Hancock when they received warning of British advancement by way of Paul Revere and others. When the founders asked Pastor Clark if they thought the men of Lexington would fight, he reportedly answered, “I have trained them for this very hour!”
The moment arrived early the next morning when about 70 parishioners of Clark’s church faced more than 700 British troops advancing upon the town commons, now known as the Lexington Green. Captain John Parker ordered the American militia to disperse, and a single gunshot rang out from an unknown person. British soldiers fired upon the retreating militia, killing eight of their countrymen and wounding 10. The events of that fateful day ignited the Revolutionary War nearly 251 years ago.
A gruesome celebration
One year later Pastor Clark gave a sermon in remembrance of the tragedy at Lexington, while summoning courage and providing theological context for the battles that lay ahead. His chilling narrative provides a firsthand account for this groundbreaking moment in our nation’s birth:
After the militia company were dispersed and the firing ceased, the troops drew up and formed, in a body on the common, fired a volley and gave three huzzas, by way of triumph, and as expressive of the joy of VICTORY and glory of CONQUEST!—Of this transaction, I was a witness, having, at that time, a fair view of their motions, and being at the distance of not more than 70 or 80 rods from them.
Like a cruel bully in the school yard, the British soldiers celebrated their grossly inequitable “victory.” Captain Parker had specifically instructed the colonists not to fire unless fired upon, echoing the express teaching of Pastor Clark who taught for years, “like many others in his day, that God would not bless an offensive war, but only a defensive one,” according to The American Story: Beginnings by the Bartons.
Accounts of that provocative gunshot varied greatly, and it’s never been confirmed which side fired first. But according to Pastor Clark's anniversary sermon of remembrance: “A cloud of witnesses, whose veracity cannot be justly disputed, upon oath have declared in the most express and positive terms ‘that the British troops fired first ...’”
Clark also stated, “there is no just ground to suppose, that it would have ever entered the heart of Americans, to have desired a dissolution of so happy a connection with the Mother-Country, or to have fought independence of Britain, had they not been urged, and even forced upon such an expedient, by measures of oppression and violence, and the shedding of innocent blood.”
Even after the events at Lexington, the battle immediately following at Concord, and other battles throughout the colonies over the next year, the American colonists continued efforts to reconcile their grievances with England. In July 1775 the Continental Congress made their final attempt at peace by adopting the Olive Branch Petition, which King George III roundly ignored.
Truth: The first layer of America’s foundation
When the Continental Congress finally adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, they poetically and succinctly laid out their case, listing 27 grievances against Great Britain to justify their revolutionary actions. For reluctant colonists and the world, our Founding Fathers built their argument upon these powerful statements of belief that Americans throughout the ages have known by heart:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …
According to the book Freedom’s Frame by Rick Green, the phrase “We hold these truths” expresses the first principle of America’s founding. Simply put, truth exists. Without this core belief, the United States would never have been born, and if we lose our grip on the notion of truth, we won't survive.
The good news for us? The American patriots who advanced the cause of liberty were outnumbered; there was a strong faction of Americans who were loyal to the crown, and many remained neutral. But our God delights in using small vessels to bring His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven—things like a slingshot, a mustard seed, and a teenaged virgin. The glory of God doesn’t require big numbers, just big faith. (And sometimes, even a sliver of faith will do!)
That’s where we come in. Let us keep believing, praying, and fighting for truth in Jesus’ name. Like Jonas Clark. Like Charlie Kirk.
P.S. In this series called “America@250” about our nation’s history and founding principles, I want to share some of our sources (since it is iVoterGuide’s way to provide sources for candidate research). To explore some key resources for this article, see below.
Jonas Clark's sermon, April 19, 1776, Wallbuilders The Battle of Lexington, American History Central
Battles of Lexington and Concord, National Archives
Lexington and Concord, American Battlefield Trust Olive Branch Petition, American Battlefield Trust
Declaration of Independence, National Archives The Grievances, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Freedom’s Frame, by Rick Green The American Story: The Beginnings by David Barton and Tim Barton