Show In Independence ce Day 1 1973 73 Firm action in defense of freedom Is this country's oldest tradition It is the foundation on which the Independence inde Inde- independence we celebrate this week will remain secure as long as we honor it Actually the shooting began more than a year b before fore the Declaration of Independence was was signed In Inthe the spring of f 1775 the British commander in Boston learned that the patriots of Massachusetts had assembled ammunition and other military equipment at Concord 16 miles away var away He lIe sent a force of eight hundred men to destroy the munitions When six miles from Concord at Lexington seventy armed men stood their ground on the village green gr en and the British army fired the first shots They proceeded to Concord where Emersons Emerson's embattled farmer farm farm- er r hid most of the munitions and withstood the British assault The The battle aroused i the colonies colonies' and and by the end of the summer the power of governors the royal governors was destro destroyed ed and provincial congresses were w were re form formed d. d The idea that independence independence in in- dependence was was essential to fre freedom dom became widely accepted ac accepted lic ac- d and and ultimately was was articulated in the Declaration n norl of of orl Independence |