Shot Heard Round The World: Ralph Waldo Emerson

An influential literary movement in the nineteenth century, transcendentalism placed an emphasis on the wonder of nature and its deep connection to the divine. As the two most prominent figures in the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau whole-heartedly embraced these principles. In their essays “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience”, Emerson and Thoreau, respectively, argue for individuality and personal expression in different manners. In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson calls for individuals to speak their minds and resist societal conformity, while in “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau urged Americans to publicly state their opinions in order to improve their own government.

"In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, - no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, - all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God."

Though the Shot Heard 'Round the World began the Battle of Lexington, the Shot Heard 'Round the World was caused by the Boston Tea Party. Samuel Adams led the Sons of Liberty in a rebellion against the Stamp Act. They disguised themselves as Indians and dumped tons of

British soldiers patrolled the area. People say the soldiers pounced first, but others beg to differ. This story told as from Revere reveals the dark side of the soldiers. It was MArch, 1770 and another protest had formed this time harassing the soldiers. Then a fire was shot and as from an engraving this was now the “Bloody Massacre.”

At about five o’clock in the morning,an unknown participant fired the first shot,and then all Boston fortified against the American patriots.(McGill 1)After Americans espied as many as 40 boats or barges coming over,full of troops.(Grayson 40)British Lieutenant General Thomas Gage planned to fortify the hills on Dorchester Heights,south of Boston.(James Kirby 1)The bloodiest battle of the American Revolutionary War started.(James Kirby 1)

The gun shot that was heard around the world, in 1775 marks the day of the beginning of the of the American Revolution .During the American Revolution the Seneca people had a critical role. The 3 three Seneca Chief’s , Big Tree, Corn Planter, and Half Town wrote a letter to them asking George Washington to stop killing their people. Some of the Seneca people joined the British, an interesting fact. Who were considering a revolution despite the fact that Native American’s didn’t do anything ? After the research that been done, it can be proven that the American Revolution was actually a Revolution. In the American Revolution the government changed and the people wanted to leave British rule resulting in and there was violence. Of

The two sides eyed each other and waited for the first move. No one is sure who made the first move, all we know is that a shot rang out and the fighting started. This first shot is called the “shot heard round the world”.The militia or residential army alongside the minutemen who claimed to able to be ready to fight within a minute were no match for the British troops. The Americans were defeated and the British moved on to concord to seize the gunpowder. The British troops were met by more minutemen and more of the militia. This time the battle was much harder for the British and eventually they had to retreat. The British retreated toward Boston and were again sucked into combat with the colonial minutemen and militia. The colonists killed over 125 people including British officers. These fights where the British had killed Americans were taken and made into propaganda to increase the tension between the two

On 19 April 1775, the battle begun. The colony protected by local militiamen was vastly outnumbered, armed with only 77 men including “minutemen,” named for their ability to be ready to fight in a minute’s notice were

Once the Redcoats were set up to the best of their ability, the militiamen continued to move forward. As the militiamen closed in the British fired the first volley, Private Abner Hosmer and Captain Isaac Davis were at the head of the march and were killed instantly. That volley was the start of the Revolutionary War and is now known as the “Shot Heard around the World”. The militiamen

Though it has been called a battle, it was more of a skirmish. It happened on April 19th the year 1775 in Middlesex Country, province of Massachusetts Bay during the American Revolution. The British were marching to Concord because of the arms depot of the Americans. The Americans were out-numbered, out-gunned, and not as well trained at the British soldiers. On the side of the road there were 40 to 100 speculators of this event. When the British arrived one of the officers rode forward waving his sword and called out to the militia to disperse and go home, as well as telling them “Lay down your arms, you damned rebels!” But the Americans did not lay down their arms so the British commander Major John Pitcairn told his men to hold fire as did the Americans leader, Captain John Parker, who was a veteran from the French and Indian War (1754-1763). But, a shot was fired from an unknown source. By the end of the fight eight militia men lay

The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5th, 1770. It was a street fight between American colonists and British soldiers. American colonists were outraged about the Townshend Acts of 1767, which was an act that allowed the British to tax the Americans on paper, led, and tea. The British wanted to keep a tight control over the Americans, so they passed the Quartering Act, which stated that American colonists had to house British soldiers. Around two hundred colonists surrounded the British soldiers before the fight occurred. After taunting from the colonists, a British soldier fired into the crowd. An African American sailor, named Crispus Attackus, was killed first. Samuel Gray, James Cauldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr were shot and died later. The Revolution of armed rebellion rose throughout colonies, afterwards.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emerson is a firm believer of maintaining self-reliance and values rather than following the crowd. He also explains that in order to be truly successful in life, a person must make decisions and trust in his or her judgment. In today’s society, teenagers are more likely to not be self-reliant because the teens feel they will be judged for having different beliefs. People today need to realize that they should not conform to be like the rest of the world, they must not depend on the judgment and criticism of others, and people must refuse to travel somewhere in order to forget their personal problems. Through Emerson’s piece, readers are able to

A few days ago, around 5:00 a.m., with as many as 700 British troops, march into Lexington looking for 77 armed minutemen. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the patriots to spread out, which made the Americans drift off of the green. The first shot was the '' shot heard from around the world '' creating a cloud of smoke over the battlefield. On April 19, 17775 when the battle of Lexington, Massachusetts ended with eight dead or dying Americans and ten others.

The Boston Massacre is considered by many historians to be the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The fatal incident happened on March 5 of 1770. The massacre resulted in the death of five colonists. British troops in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were there to stop demonstrations against the Townshend Acts and keep order, but instead they provoked outrage. The British soldiers and citizens brawled in streets and fought in bars. “The citizens viewed the British soldiers as potential oppressors, competitors for jobs, and a treat to social mores”. A defiant anti-British fever was lingering among the townspeople.

Ralph Waldo Emerson							I am writing this essay on the beliefs and thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson on the subjects of individuality, society, government, technology, and spirituality.