Tomczak Participates in Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Lexington & Concord

Richard Tomczak presenting on the French labor custom of corvee in the eighteenth century at "1775: A Society on the Brink of War & Revolution," on April 10.

Richard Tomczak, director of faculty engagement in the Division of Undergraduate Educationand a research assistant professor in the Department of History, recently participated in a conference commemorating the 250thanniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord.

The event, entitled "1775: A Society on the Brink of War & Revolution,"was a collaboration between the David Center for the American Revolution, American Philosophical Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, and Concord Museum. CSPAN and Concord Museum broadcastthe presentations live on television and YouTube.

Tomczak delivered a paper on April 10 entitled "The Invasion of Quebec and the Politics of Popular Protest, 1775-1776," in the third panel of the day, "The Coming of War." The presentation, based on his new book Workers of War and Empire from New France to British America, 1688-1783, focused on the effects of the Revolution in Canada, and the way that people living in the Province of Quebec responded to American protests.

Canadians channeled rhetoric from Independence movement, stating that the Americans had come to free them from tyranny of the British Crown. Throughout the invasion of Quebec, Canadians defied state British orders, attacked their seigneurs, and, in some cases, performed a French custom of mandatory labor called corvée for the Continental Army. Crossing imperial boundaries, this paper sheds light on the impact of armed conflict from the perspective of Canadians in the Richelieu borderlands.

Richard Tomczak during the open Q&A of the panel, "The Coming of War."

Hosted by Concord Museum, the conference took place April 10-11 at the Concord Museum in Massachusetts on the theme "1775." The keynote address was given by preeminent scholars Serena Zabin, Carleton College, and Robert A. Gross, University of Connecticut Emeritus. Sessions spanned topics from faith, community, impending war, material culture, and memory.

Other papers delivered at the commemoration investigated the inevitability of the American Revolution, the battles of Lexington and Concord in popular memory, and the ways that museums interpret the events. Many of them highlighted the uncertainty people faced as the conflict escalated from rebellion to revolution.

The David Center for the American Revolution will continue to host annual workshops and conferences as part of a broader project called America 2026. As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence in 2026, America 2026 aims to uncover, map, and analyze the networks and exchanges connecting the actors, the ideas and the legacies of the American Revolution across the Atlantic Ocean, from the mid-eighteenth century through the 1820s and in the present day. It seeks to fully contribute to the debates and the cultural and academic productions that will accompany this commemorative moment and lead to critical reviews of the study of the American Revolution.

For Concord Museum, in addition to the conference, they have new exhibitions and events to commemorate the start of the American Revolution, including the special exhibition "Whose Revolution." They also have Museum Forums, featuring the nation's leading and cutting-edge voices around revolutionary discourse, emphasizing new voices and perspectives with the goal of expanding public understanding and engagement with the history and legacy of the American Revolution.

In support of his book, Tomczak has also provided a guest lecture at Missouri State University, an official book launch in Montreal at Jeudis d'Histoire at McGill University, and will speak at Fort Ticonderoga's Seven Years War College in late May.