Noted historian and author J. L. Bell will be speaking on Tuesday, April 2 at 7:00 PM in
Room 204, Acton Town Hall, 472 Main Street, Acton, MA. Please register for the talk at:
http://tinyurl.com/APR-02-Bell, or use the QR code above. Remote Participation: You
can participate in the Q&A using ZOOM http://tinyurl.com/Acton250-ZOOM or watch
live at Acton TV http://tinyurl.com/Acton-TV.

Context: As the year 1774 began, Massachusetts politicians worried about how the
royal government in London would respond to the Boston Tea Party. The force of that
reaction became clear in the return of troops to Boston, the Coercive Acts, and the
Massachusetts Government Act. In late summer the province’s people rebelled by
shutting down government functions in rural counties, seizing weapons in ports, and
electing their own legislature. The engine of that resistance was a little-understood
institution: the colonial militia. By fall, it was clear that the new royal governor had no
leverage outside Boston. This talk traces the end of British power in most of
Massachusetts even before the war began.

J. L. Bell has explored the end of British royal government in Massachusetts by
following the contest for artillery pieces in his acclaimed book, The Road to Concord:
How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War. He also maintains the Boston
1775 blog, which offers daily helpings of history, analysis, and unabashed gossip about
Revolutionary New England.

We will post a recording shortly after on the Acton 250 website. This is the fourth
lecture in a series commissioned by the Acton 250 Committee. Please visit the Acton 250 website
https://www.actonma.gov/250 for all event programming.

Generously supported by the Acton Lions Club.