Paul Revere: An American Patriot and Silversmith
Paul Revere was the infamous rider warning of the arrival of the Red Coats — British soldiers dressed in red — during the U.S.A.’s Revolutionary War. We all learned about him in elementary school and perhaps onward in more advanced education classes, but many of us have likely forgotten the fact that Paul Revere was not only a Patriot but an accomplished and acclaimed silversmith during his time. Labeling him only a silversmith is perhaps not truly representative of this Patriot’s life. Revere, after putting his life at risk (not the first time or the last) to warn the citizens of the oppressive British’s approach — valuable given their reputation for harming civilians, Patriots and Tories alike — he went on to become an entrepreneurial pioneer in mass producing iron and copper forgings. Paul Revere was a model in many ways for what the model American dream would become and his origins and livelihood all revolved around silver.
Born in Boston in 1735, Revere was the son of a French Huguenot silversmith that studied under John Coney, a famed silversmith of the time. Revere was the third of twelve children and at 13 he left school to become an apprentice to his father. When Revere’s father died in 1754, Revere was too young to take over the family silver shop as the master silversmith so he enlisted in the provincial army to fight in the French and Indian War. Revere’s time in the army did not last long and he returned to Boston to resume control of his family’s silver shop.
Revere’s silver shop business suffered during the period of strife with the colonists and the British, primarily as a result of the crushing Seven Years War and the Stamp Act of 1765, which likely influenced his animosity towards the British. After the Boston Massacre, where British troops shot and killed several colonists upset over the King’s abuses of them, Revere engraved The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5, 1770 in copper which remains a historically important piece. Revere was also one of the ringleaders of the Boston Tea Party.
Revere’s Midnight Ride is what he is most famous for, a ride he practiced for in his 18 rides from Boston to New York as a part of the Committee of Public Safety as a part of the communications between these two colonialist cities. In Revere’s famous Midnight Ride he rode from Boston to Barrett’s Farm, through Lexington and Concord, warning the colonists of the British’s approach. Revere was not able to return to Boston till after the British were expelled from there, but he continued to assist the Patriots in a variety of tasks that helped them eventually expel the British forces from the newly formed United States of America.
After the Revolutionary War, Revere embraced a quasi-industrial revolution and expanded his metal workings beyond that of gold and silver into iron and copper. He imported machinery from England to improve production efficiency while maintaining a more traditional treatment of his workers as skilled artisans, affording them much more respect, liberties, and better wages than most had during the evolving industrial revolution. Revere’s company went on to produce a variety of cast iron and copper products, including church bells, cannons, and copper bolts, spikes, and other materials used for constructing the growing cities of the new Republic. Revere’s knowledge of silversmithing aided him greatly in these endeavors. Revere died in Boston in 1818 at the age of 83. His silver workings, highly regarded to this day, are displayed in honor at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and the The MET in NYC, among others.
Analysis: Paul Revere, descended from a family of silversmiths who by their trade had to stack silver for silver item production, went on to become a master silversmith himself. Revere faced chaos and war in his time, but stepped up to the challenge and at the risk of financial and personal ruin, fought for the freedoms and liberties we now enjoy (well, what’s left of them). The story of Revere’s occupation demonstrates the extent to which society once valued silver (and gold) objects in their lives. Much as Revere fought against a corrupt and abusive King in England, we now fight against a corrupt and abusive central bank in the Federal Reserve. Every bar stacked is like one more Continental soldier standing ready to destroy the financial tyranny we and those who came before us have lived under since at least 1913 and arguably throughout much of history.
Channeling the courage of Revere in all thoughts and actions, from the confidence that stacking will eventually pay off and crush the corrupt financial system to examining and repairing the integrity of our corrupt institutions and systems, makes us all better Patriots. Despite the claims of our “elite” enemies, our cause is about much more than personal profit and gain. That is THEIR cause. It is about the fulfillment of the Rights we have enshrined in the Constitution that are ours by birth and that no government, foreign or domestic, or central bank may rightfully take away from us.
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