250 years ago today, on a crisp spring morning in Massachusetts, the first seeds of American independence were sown in blood and defiance. Among the first to stand—and fall—was Jonas Parker, who lay wounded on Lexington village green, struggling to reload his musket as British troops closed in.

Moments earlier, Parker stood in battle formation three ranks deep with his son, cousins, and other family members. Although they were outnumbered ten to one, many heard him defiantly declare that he “would never run.”

The Battles of Lexington and Concord, which began with “the shot heard round the world” and touched off the American Revolution, remind us of the enduring lessons of courage, community, and conviction. Americans today will do well to reflect on why Parker—a 53-year-old poor farmer and father of 10—would risk everything to stand against the strongest army in the world.

In the late night and early morning hours of April 18-19, 1775, Paul Revere rode from Boston to warn minutemen in the countryside of British General Thomas Gage’s order to seize the colonial stockpile of arms. The Lexington militia stood ready, not looking for battle, but prepared to defend their rights. “Stand your ground; don’t fire unless fired upon,” Parker’s cousin and company commander ordered. “But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”

Englishmen throughout history had often assembled in a show of arms to protect their village and their individual rights from higher political authorities. But this felt different.

An impetuous royal judgment had set the stage for the confrontation that would erupt months later in Lexington. On November 18, 1774, King George III proclaimed to his prime minister, Lord North, “The New England governments are in a state of rebellion, blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country or independent.”

But King George was wrong. Prior to the first shots at Lexington, most American colonists saw themselves not as rebels but as Englishmen defending their traditional rights. The convictions fueling the colonial resistance were profoundly cultural and spiritual. Rooted in Protestant nonconformist ideals and the Anglo-Saxon heritage of common law and individual rights, these principles shaped their stand against tyrannical exercise of undue royal authority.

Lexington’s Reverend Jonas Clarke and fellow American ministers of the century had preached the truths of natural law and natural rights. Ten years earlier, Clarke stated his central belief in response to the Stamp Act: “And it is a truth, which the history of the ages and the common experiences of mankind have fully confirmed, that a people can never be divested of those invaluable rights and liberties which are necessary to the happiness of individuals, to the well-being of communities or to a well regulated state, but by their own negligence, imprudence, timidity or rashness.”

Clarke continued, “They are seldom lost, but when foolishly or tamely resigned.”

Thomas Jefferson would channel this spirit when he penned the Declaration of Independence just over a year after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Like Clarke, Jefferson declared that people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” – and when those rights are threatened by a tyrannical government, “it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Clearly, Clarke’s congregants—humble farmers and shopkeepers—were “doers” and not only “hearers” of his message on that fateful April morning. They refused to surrender their rights through silence or inaction.

As the minutemen stood face to face with the approaching redcoats, British Major John Pitcairn rode up and harshly demanded the colonists lay down their arms. “Disperse, you damned rebels! You dogs, run!” he shouted.

But Parker and the others stood defiantly in defense of their natural rights.

As musket fire broke out, he was hit in the second volley of rounds the British sent into their countrymen. True to his word, Parker never retreated even as the imperial forces rushed his position and bayoneted him.

The British quickly overpowered the militia in the fray, but their success was fleeting. As the first Lexington patriot fell, the vision of the American Republic was born.

Eight Lexington men were killed that morning, including one who managed to crawl across the street to his home and die in his wife’s arms. Eighty-five more Americans would die that day in Concord, but the patriots managed to kill hundreds of redcoats and chased them back to Boston.

By the end of the day, the image of an ordinary American standing up, speaking out, and fighting if necessary to protect his rights and the rights of his neighbor was spreading throughout the colonies.

The perspective of many colonists shifted dramatically, moving from a desire for reconciliation with Great Britain to a strong call for American independence – including one Thomas Paine. In his influential pamphlet “Common Sense,” published in January 1776, Paine argued that the colonists should not only resist British oppression but also declare their own independence. He famously wrote that “the moment the event of that day [Lexington and Concord] was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of England forever.”

Americans today must restore in ourselves the same moral clarity, civic responsibility, and courageous resolve that guided Jonas Parker and the minutemen of Lexington and Concord. While modern threats may not come in the form of bayonets and redcoats, challenges to individual liberty, local autonomy, and truth itself persist.

Standing firm in defense of constitutional principles, civic virtue, and the rights endowed by our Creator requires ordinary citizens to speak boldly, act justly, and refuse to yield to apathy or intimidation. Just as Parker stood his ground in the face of overwhelming force, so too must Americans today stand for what is right—even when it is difficult, unpopular, or costly.

The true legacy of Lexington and Concord is not simply in the shots fired, but in the spirit that fired them. It is the spirit of everyday people who understood that freedom must be claimed, cherished, and defended in each generation. As we remember Parker and the others who fell in the first days of the American Revolution, let us resolve to honor their sacrifice not only with words, but with lives that reflect the same dedication to principle, community, and country.

The American republic was born not of ease, but of sacrifice. If we, like Parker, have the courage to defend it, its legacy can endure for another 250 years and beyond.

W.J. Lee has served in the White House, NASA, on multiple political campaigns, and in nearly all levels of government. In his free time, he enjoys the “three R’s” – reading, running, and writing.