The Lexington and Concord battles converted the late-arriving Paine to independence.

Evidence

At first, founders such as Jefferson, Washington, John Hancock, and John Adams had constituted “restorers and not reformers,” Holton told me. “There is a huge difference between being angry and joining a protest and wanting to declare independence. Two events in 1775 turn the rebellion into a revolution. For men like John Adams, it was the battles of Lexington and Concord. For men like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, the Dunmore Proclamation ignited the turn to independence.” — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 100 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Early patriot pamphleteers aimed at rights restoration, not separation; Benjamin Rush commissioned Common Sense to overcome public prejudice against independence. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 62; Naming a goal transforms an open-ended grievance struggle into a final objective — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 354 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The Dunmore Proclamation, not Lexington and Concord, drove several founders to seek independence #contradicts (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 100