Paul Revere's Last Ride: The Road to Rolling Copper

Abstract

An immigrant's son, a heroic revolutionary rider, and an eminent silversmith, Paul Revere seems to epitomize the American Dream. He has been justifiably lauded as a hardworking, practical, and ambitious patriotcitizen, yet this portrait is incomplete. Paul Reveres greatest ride, truly earning him his place in history, was his successful quest to become the first American to master the technique of rolling copper. Accounts from colleagues, as well as his own writings and business records, provide a compelling picture of the real Paul Revere, who grew increasingly comfortable with technological and managerial challenges as he advanced from silversmith and Revolutionary War jack-of all-trades to foundry operator, bellmaker, and ordnance manufacturer. At the age of 65, he took up what may be called the greatest challenge of his life, the founding of a national copper rolling industry. The following analysis investigates Reveres lifelong technological education (culminating in his attempt to roll copper) as well as the social, economic, and political context that shaped his experiences. Like many of his peers in America's growing technological community, Revere rose through the apprentice training system to become a colonial artisan. Although he rejected his craft roots while striving to become a successful entrepreneur/proto-industrialist, many aspects of his professional endeavors reflected his artisanal heritage. But he differed from many of his peers by seeking federal sponsorship for his work. The government of the early republic, particularly during the Federalist administration of John Adams, offered several forms of limited assistance to economic and technological endeavors. Reveres business fell into a privileged category because it was linked to the military (in this case, the naval) requirements of the United States. However, he quickly discovered that the young government's small, inexperienced bureaucracy, competing political parties, and divided ideologies hindered the efficient and consistent support of private enterprises.1 Reveres earliest education took place in his father's silver shop, where he served as an apprentice until 1754. As a craftsman he belonged to a community of skilled laborers joined by common traditions such as a seven-year apprenticeship period, a distinctive local interpretation of artistic styles, and the practice of subcontracting portions of complex jobs to fellow artisans with superior experience or tools. Versatility distinguished his career from the very beginning: he produced over 90 different kinds of objects, quickly mastered new processes and the most fashionable artistic trends, and performed other skilled tasks such as copperplate engraving.2 This flexibility served him well in the unstable economic climate of the colonial and revolutionary period. Reveres silversmithing career was interrupted when the Revolutionary War presented compelling demands for his services. A member of the Boston Sons of Liberty, he made many trips to New York and Philadelphia for the committees of safety and correspondence, as well as his famous midnight ride. He also provided three extremely important technical services to the revolutionary effort. He engraved and printed loan notes and currency for the Massachusetts Provincial Congress beginning in the spring of 1775. Later that year, the Continental Congress sent him to Philadelphia to learn how to manufacture gunpowder, and he eventually supervised the establishment of a powder mill in Canton, Massachusetts. Finally, the Massachusetts War Council asked him in 1777 to learn how to cast brass cannon from Lewis Ansart, a skilled and innovative French foundryman living in Connecticut, whose knowledge of metallurgy was virtually unequaled in America.3 Revere succeeded at all of these tasks and would later apply his experience (particularly his work with Ansart) to his own foundry. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Revere returned to silverworking. …