Doing Your Part

American Minute from William J. Federer

He sent Paul Revere on his midnight ride to warn Lexington the British were coming. A Harvard graduate, he was a successful doctor in Boston, but left his career when the British passed the hated Stamp Act. With Samuel Adams, he organized the Provincial Congress to protest. His name was Dr. Joseph Warren, born JUNE 11, 1741.

Following the Boston Tea Party, King George III enacted the Intolerable Acts of 1774: blocking Boston harbor until citizens reimbursed the East India Tea Company; quartering British soldiers in private homes; allowing British officials to be unaccountable for their crimes; and replacing Massachusetts' elected officials with royal appointees.

In response, Dr. Joseph Warren wrote the Suffolk Resolves, urging Massachusetts to establish a free state, boycott British goods, form militias and no longer be loyal to a king who violates their rights.

Fighting in the Battle of Bunker Hill, a monument marks where Warren died.

Three years earlier Dr. Joseph Warren stated on the anniversary of the Boston Massacre: "If you perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence that the same Almighty Being who protected your pious and venerable forefathers...will still be mindful of you."

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.