Editing Paul Revere (section)

==Later years: entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and politics==
[[File:PaulRevereByGilbertStuart.jpeg|thumb|left|upright|1813 portrait of Revere by [[Gilbert Stuart]]]]

After the war, Revere became interested in metal work beyond gold and silver. By 1788 he had invested some of the profits from his growing silverworking trade to construct a large [[Metallurgical furnace|furnace]], which would allow him to work with larger quantities of metals at higher temperatures. He soon opened an iron foundry in Boston's [[North End, Boston|North End]] that produced utilitarian cast iron items such as stove backs, fireplace tools, and [[sash window|sash-window]] weights, marketed to a broad segment of Boston's population.{{sfn|Martello|2010|pp=151–155}} Many of Revere's business practices changed when he expanded his practice into ironworking, because he transitioned from just being an artisan to also being an entrepreneur and a manager. In order to make this transition successfully, Revere had to invest substantial quantities of capital and time in his foundry.{{sfn|Martello|2010|p=137}}

===Technological practices===

The quasi-[[Industrial Revolution|industrialization]] of his practice set Revere apart from his competition. "Revere's rapid foundry success resulted from fortuitous timing, innate technical aptitude, thorough research, and the casting experience he gained from silverworking."{{sfn|Martello|2010|p=154}} This technical proficiency allowed Revere to optimize his work and adapt to a new technological and entrepreneurial model. Revere's location also benefited his endeavors. Revere was entering the field of iron casting in a time when New England cities were becoming centers of industry. The nature of technological advancement was such that many skilled entrepreneurs in a number of fields worked together, in what is known by [[Nathan Rosenberg]] as [[technological convergence]], by which a number of companies work together on challenges in order to spur advances.{{sfn|Martello|2010|p=252}} By accessing the knowledge of other nearby metal workers, Revere was able to successfully explore and master new technologies throughout his career.

===Labor practices===

One of the biggest changes for Revere in his new business was organization of labor. In his earlier days, Revere primarily utilized the [[apprenticeship]] model standard for artisan shops at this time, but as his business expanded he hired employees (wage laborers) to work for his foundry. Many manufacturers of the era found this transition from master to employer difficult because many employees at the onset of the Industrial Revolution identified themselves as [[skilled workers]], and thus wanted to be treated with the respect and autonomy accorded to [[artisans]]. An artisan himself, Revere managed to avoid many of these labor conflicts by adopting a system of employment that still held trappings of the craft system in the form of worker freedoms such as work hour flexibility, wages in line with skill levels, and liquor on the job.{{sfn|Martello|2010|pp=276, 146}}

===Manufacturing: church bells, cannon, and copper products===

After mastering the iron casting process and realizing substantial profits from this new product line, Revere identified a burgeoning market for church bells in the religious revival known as the [[Second Great Awakening]] that followed the war. Beginning in 1792 he became one of America's best-known [[Revere Bells|bell casters]], working with sons Paul Jr. and [[Joseph Warren Revere (businessman)|Joseph Warren Revere]] in the firm [[Paul Revere & Sons]]. This firm cast the first bell made in Boston and ultimately produced hundreds of bells, a number of which remain in operation.{{sfn|Martello|2010|pp=168–171}}

In 1794, Revere decided to take the next step in the evolution of his business, expanding his bronze casting work by learning to cast cannon for the federal government, state governments, and private clients. Although the government often had trouble paying him on time, its large orders inspired him to deepen his contracting and seek additional product lines of interest to the military.{{sfn|Martello|2010|pp=179–184}}

By 1795, a growing percentage of his foundry's business came from a new product, copper bolts, spikes, and other fittings that he sold to merchants and the Boston naval yard for ship construction. In 1801, Revere became a pioneer in the production of [[copper sheathing|rolled copper]], opening North America's first copper mill south of Boston in [[Canton, Massachusetts|Canton]]. Copper from the [[Revere Copper Company]] was used to cover the original wooden dome of the [[Massachusetts State House]] in 1802. His copper and brass works eventually grew, through sale and corporate merger, into a large corporation, Revere Copper and Brass, Inc.{{sfn|Martello|2010|pp=331–332}}

===Steps towards standardized production===
During his earlier days as an artisan, especially when working with silver products, Revere produced "bespoke" or customized goods. As he shifted to ironworking, he found the need to produce more standardized products, because this made production cheaper.{{sfn|Martello|2010|p=155}} To achieve the beginnings of standardization, Revere used identical molds for casting, especially in the fabrication of mass-produced items such as stoves, ovens, frames, and chimney backs.{{sfn|Martello|2010|p=141}} However, Revere did not totally embrace uniform production. For example, his bells and cannons were all unique products: these large objects required extensive fine-tuning and customization, and the small number of bells and cannon minimized the potential benefits of standardizing them.{{sfn|Martello|2010|p=301}} In addition, even the products that he made in large quantities could not be truly standardized due to technological and skill limitations. His products were rarely (if ever) identical, but his processes were well systematized. "He came to realize that the foundry oven melded the characteristics of tools and machines: it required skilled labor and could be used in a flexible manner to produce different products, but an expert could produce consistent output by following a standard set of production practices."{{sfn|Martello|2010|p=154}}

===Freemasonry===
[[File:Registration of Lodge Membership for Paul Revere, Joseph Warren and William Palfrey.jpg|thumb|Extract from membership register for Revere, Warren and Palfrey]]
Revere was a Freemason as a member of Lodge St. Andrews, No. 81, in Boston, Massachusetts. The Lodge continues to meet in Boston with the No. 4 under and the jurisdiction of the [[Grand Lodge of Massachusetts]]. The date he joined the Lodge is not known but was sometime after the inauguration of the Lodge on St Andrew's Day, November 30, 1756, and before May 15, 1769, when he is recorded in the [[Grand Lodge of Scotland]] membership register as the Lodge Secretary. [[Joseph Warren]] and [[William Palfrey]] are also recorded, on the same page, as members of the Lodge as being Master and Senior Warden respectively. (see image)<ref>Registration Book No.1 (1736–1797), Grand Lodge of Scotland. Pp. 127 and 188.</ref><ref>''Cracking the Freemasons Code''. Robert L. D. Cooper. 2006. {{ISBN|978-1-84604-049-8}}.</ref>

He subsequently became the [[Grand Master (Masonic)|Grand Master]] of the [[Freemason]]s of [[Grand Lodge of Massachusetts|Massachusetts]] from 1795 to 1797.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Paul Revere Grand Master |url=https://www.mwsite.org/papers/mwrevere.html |access-date=October 2, 2023 |website=www.mwsite.org}}</ref> During his tenure, Revere, along with [[Governor of Massachusetts|Governor]] [[Samuel Adams]] and Deputy Grand Master, Colonel [[William Scollay]], deposited a box containing an assemblage of commemorative items under the cornerstone of the [[Massachusetts State House]] on July 4, 1795.<ref>[http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2015/01/06/history_of_time_capsules_boston_statehouse_time_capsule_opening.html So, What Was In That Boston Time Capsule?], Rebecca Onion, [[Slate.com]], January 6, 2015, accessed January 8, 2015</ref>

===Politics and final years===

[[File:Paul Revere Memorial, Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts.jpg|upright|thumb|right|Paul Revere's grave site in the [[Granary Burying Ground]]]]
Revere remained politically active throughout his life. His business plans in the late 1780s were often stymied by a shortage of adequate money in circulation. [[Alexander Hamilton]]'s national policies regarding banks and industrialization exactly matched his dreams, and he became an ardent [[Federalist Party|Federalist]] committed to building a robust economy and a powerful nation. Of particular interest to Revere was the question of protective tariffs; he and his son sent a petition to Congress in 1808 asking for protection for his sheet copper business.<ref>Stanwood, Edward. American Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century. pg. 117</ref> He continued to participate in local discussions of political issues even after his retirement in 1811, and in 1814 circulated a petition offering the government the services of Boston's artisans in protecting Boston during the [[War of 1812]].{{sfn|Miller|2010|p=257}} Revere died on May 10, 1818, at the age of 83, at his home on Charter Street in Boston.{{sfn|Miller|2010|p=258}} He is buried in the [[Granary Burying Ground]] on [[Tremont Street]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2016/10/21/historic-cemeteries-boston/|title=Five Historic Cemeteries to Visit in Boston|date=October 21, 2016}}</ref>{{sfn|PRMA|1988|p=33}}