By Laurie O’Neill — Laurie@concordbridge.org
The road to independence began right here.
October 11, 2024, marks the 250th anniversary of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, an event that will commemorate the first gathering to discuss self-government in response to Britain’s Intolerable Acts.
The program will take place where the original delegates met for four days: in the Congregational meetinghouse (now First Parish), after which they are said to have retired to the adjacent Wright Tavern for refreshments and more discussion.
While outwardly proclaiming loyalty to the Crown, about 243 representatives from all over Massachusetts, including the District of Maine, held secret meetings in Concord. They set the colony on the path to independence.
A daylong program titled “Exploring Democracy — Past, Present, and Future” will feature speakers Robert A. Gross, Draper professor of early American history emeritus at the University of Connecticut; Woody Holton, McCausland professor of history at the University of South Carolina; Manisha Sinha, Draper professor of American history at the University of Connecticut; and Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman professor of law and leadership at Harvard Law School.
The organizers have invited state representatives and students and teachers from area schools.
A ‘struggling republic’
The program will suggest that attendees contemplate “what they can learn from the past while exploring what is necessary to have a meaningful and enduring democracy,” said Tom Wilson, head of the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust, which is sponsoring the event.
All five Massachusetts signers of the Declaration of Independence served in the Provincial Congress, noted Gross, a Concord resident. “Theirs was a journey from charter rights to universal rights that opened the way for a now 250-year-old republic still struggling to make ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ available to all.
“Will we, as heirs of the liberty for which they fought, do the same?”
The program will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at First Parish on 20 Lexington Road. A reception in the Wright Tavern will follow the event. Lunch will be available for $20 and free for students. For more information or to register in advance for the free event, go to wrighttavern.org/programs.
