‘One if by Land’: White House, Boston celebrates 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s midnight ride

It’s been 250 years since Paul Revere rode into the night — and now, the Trump administration is riding high on history.

On Friday, the White House released a presidential statement commemorating Revere’s ride, calling the silversmith a patriot whose "bold act of defiance set in motion a war of independence that changed the course of history."

The White House also posted a video tribute titled "The Ride That Roused a Nation," offering a cinematic retelling of the 1775 event. 

Meanwhile, in Boston, Massachusetts, where it all began, the anniversary was marked Friday with a reenactment of Revere's historic ride.

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Actor Michael Lepage portrayed Revere, walking from the Paul Revere House to the Old North Church, where two lanterns were lit to signal the British advance. After crossing the Charles River, First Sgt. Matthew Johnson of the National Lancers took up the ride on horseback, continuing the journey to Lexington.

Revere’s mission began late on the night of April 18, 1775, when two lanterns lit in Boston’s Old North Church signaled that British troops were crossing the Charles River by sea.

Revere mounted a borrowed horse and rode into the countryside to alert colonial militias and warn patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington. Although he was stopped by British patrols before reaching Concord, his message had already been passed along by fellow riders William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott. 

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Thanks to their warning, militia forces were ready when the first shots of the American Revolution rang out the next morning on Lexington Green.

The presidential statement highlighted these facts while paying tribute to Revere as "a master craftsman, a husband, a father, and a proud son of liberty." 

It also quoted from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous 1860 poem, "Paul Revere’s Ride," which turned the midnight journey into a national legend. While the actual ride was part of a larger effort involving multiple messengers, Longfellow’s verse — "a cry of defiance, and not of fear" — helped enshrine Revere’s name in American memory, where it remains to this day.

The video released by Trump’s team underscored that legacy with dramatic narration, archival imagery, and references to key sites like Old North Church and North Bridge in Concord. 

"In the dead of night, a silversmith became a signal. A signal became a movement. And that movement became America," the voiceover declares, in the first of many patriotic events planned as part of the administration’s "Salute to America 250" initiative.

That effort, launched ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, includes coordinated federal, state, and local commemorations aimed at spotlighting major moments in early American history. 

Friday’s Revere tribute serves as an unofficial kickoff, tying 1775 to 2025.

Previous presidents have also marked Revolutionary milestones.

Gerald Ford launched the nation’s Bicentennial by lighting a lantern at Old North Church in 1975, symbolically extending Revere’s message into the country’s third century. 

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In 2001, George W. Bush commemorated the 225th anniversary of independence with a speech in Philadelphia focused on the founding ideals of liberty and equality. 

The Trump administration’s message follows in that tradition, while also preparing for what’s expected to be a high-profile semiquincentennial year.