His father, Apollos De Revoire (later changed to Revere), was a Huguenot refugee who had come to Boston as a child and had been apprenticed to a silversmith. This craft he taught his son Paul Revere, who became one of America's greatest artists in silver. As a boy Revere received sufficient education to enable him later to read the difficult metallurgical books of his period. Although it was in metal that Revere did most of his work, his energy and skill (and the necessity of supporting an ever-growing family) turned him in many directions. He not only made silver articles but also crafted surgical instruments, sold spectacles, replaced missing teeth, and engraved copper plates, the most famous of which portrayed his version of the Boston Massacre.

In the 1770s Revere enthusiastically supported the patriot cause; as acknowledged leader of Boston's mechanic class, he provided an invaluable link between artisans and intellectuals. In 1773 he donned Indian garb and joined 50 other patriots in the Boston Tea Party protest against parliamentary taxation without representation. Although many have questioned the historical liberties taken in Longfellow's narrative poem "Paul Revere's Ride" (1863), the fact is that Revere served for years as the principal rider for Boston's Committee of Safety, making journeys to New York and Philadelphia in its service. On April 16, 1775, he rode to nearby Concord to urge the patriots to move their military stores, which were endangered by pending British troop movements. At this time he arranged to signal the patriots of the British approach by having lanterns placed in Boston's Old North Church steeple: “One if by land, and two if by sea.” Two days later he set out from Boston on his most famous journey to alert his countrymen that British troops were on the march, particularly in search of Revolutionary leaders John Hancock (Hancock, John) and Samuel Adams (Adams, Samuel). Both he and his compatriot, William Dawes, reached Lexington separately and were able to warn Hancock and Adams to flee. The two men together with Samuel Prescott then started for Concord, but they were soon stopped by a British patrol, and only Prescott got through. Revere was released by the British and returned on foot to Lexington. Because of Revere's warning, the Minutemen were ready the next morning on Lexington green for the historic battle that launched the American Revolution.

With the outbreak of hostilities, Revere turned industrialist and constructed a much-needed powder mill to supply colonial arms. In 1776 he was put in command of Boston Harbour's principal defense at Castle William, but his war record as a lieutenant colonel was largely undistinguished. He resumed his stride as a successful industrialist after the war, however, and set up a rolling mill for the manufacture of sheet copper at Canton, Mass. From this factory came sheathing for many U.S. ships, including the Constitution, and for the dome of the Massachusetts statehouse.