Big things often have small beginnings. For example, the Massachusetts Minutemen who fired the first shots of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord and their representatives in the Continental Congress likely had little idea that their rebellion against unfair British taxation would blossom into a country whose economic and military might is felt all over the globe today. But even in the 1780s, its successful rebellion and the ideals the fledgling nation was founded upon had an impact on Western society and political ideas in particular.