The clash at Lexington, on the 19th of April, had made vivid the
reality of war.  Passions ran high.  For years there had been
tension, long disputes about buying British stamps to put on
American legal papers, about duties on glass and paint and paper
and, above all, tea.  Boston had shown turbulent defiance, and to
hold Boston down British soldiers had been quartered on the
inhabitants in the proportion of one soldier for five of the
populace, a great and annoying burden.  And now British soldiers
had killed Americans who stood barring their way on Lexington
Green.  Even calm Benjamin Franklin spoke later of the hands of
British ministers as "red, wet, and dropping with blood."
Americans never forgot the fresh graves made on that day.  There
were, it is true, more British than American graves, but the
British were regarded as the aggressors.  If the rest of the
colonies were to join in the struggle, they must have a common
leader.  Who should he be? 

In June, while the Continental Congress faced this question at
Philadelphia, events at Boston made the need of a leader more
urgent.  Boston was besieged by American volunteers under the