Boston Massacre Research Paper

The Boston Massacre took place on March 5th, 1770. This historic event was caused because of an ongoing conflict between the British soldiers and the people of Boston. According to George Hewes account, “Crowds of artisans and laborers joined the elite in protesting British policies, although their differing points of view revealed the divisions within colonial society.” People were upset over the British passing the Towsend Act, which was a surplus of unpopular taxes. The people of Boston also resented the British troops, who were also looking for jobs.

The Boston Massacre is considered by many historians to be the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The fatal incident happened on March 5 of 1770. The massacre resulted in the death of five colonists. British troops in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were there to stop demonstrations against the Townshend Acts and keep order, but instead they provoked outrage. The British soldiers and citizens brawled in streets and fought in bars. “The citizens viewed the British soldiers as potential oppressors, competitors for jobs, and a treat to social mores'; (Mahin 1). A defiant anti-British fever was lingering among the townspeople.     

This chapter provided information from the trial of Captain Thomas Preston. The chapter asked the question, “What really happened in the Boston Massacre”. Chapter four focused on the overall event of the Massacre and trying to determine if Captain Preston had given the order to fire at Boston citizens. The chapter provides background information and evidence from Preston’s trial to leave the reader answering the question the chapter presents. Although, after looking through all the witnesses’ testimonies some might sway in Captain Preston’s favor, just the way the grand jury did.

The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Massacre was a small riot between the colonists and British soldiers. Evidence supports that the colonists were to blame for the events that led to the Boston Massacre, which resulted in five colonial deaths.

Why or why not? He’s just trying to get Preston in trouble with the court so that way they can win the war.

To deeply understand that what is Boston Massacre is all about, it is necessary to critically analyze the causes and effects of the incident of Boston Massacre. Boston Massacre is considered as one of the decisive incidents in the history of America. The act of Boston Massacre happened on March 5, 1770. This incident was known as the act of massacre because it causes the brutal killing of five American men due to the fight between British soldiers and the American

The Boston Massacre was an extremely important event in American History. Also, it a very controversial topic. To this day, no one can really give an accurate description of the events that transpired. The Boston Massacre was not a random event at all; many actions led up to the massacre. As a result of this disaster, America was changed forever and sent on a road towards revolution. The Boston Massacre was a defining moment in American history.

If you don’t know who Captain Preston is, he is the captain of the group of soldiers. Some people say that he was the one that told the soldiers to fire. It even shows him raising his hand to fire in Paul Revere’s engraving. It is not certain that, this is what happened because there is no other proof but the engraving. From what I have heard Captain Preston was telling the soldiers not to fire.

On the other hand, a British perspective is given by a letter of Captain Thomas Preston, who wrote it a week after the incident. He depicts his own version of the event on March 5th and tries to defend himself. Preston starts out by presenting his sad situation in which he needs help and has nothing to support himself. Then, he starts to describe the relationships between soldiers and citizens and the main reasons of the event on the night of March 5th. Contrary to the article of Boston Gazette, Thomas Preston states that Boston citizens were constantly provoking and abusing British soldiers. Thus, there were many disputes that happened between the Townspeople and the Soldiery in Boston before March 5th. Furthermore, the captain states that utter hatred of Boston citizens to British soldiers was increasing daily and they were privately planning for general attacks. According to Preston, one of these plans was realized on Monday night, when two soldiers were attacked by the party of inhabitants. In order to provoke other citizens of Boston to riot, this party broke into two

While the British were in the streets of Boston the colonists decided to protest the king. The colonists were protesting that the taxes that the kind had on the people were unfair. The colonists started with using verbal abuse, but eventually they started throwing things and beating the soldiers. The colonists were saying things like “Fire you bloody lobsters” and throwing things such as snowballs, pebbles, rocks, sticks basically anything they could find. Since the colonists were threatening the British they had a reason to fire. A report made shows that one colonist was physically beating one of the British guards. This colonist had no charges filed against him, but the British soldier was the one who fired the first shot. The British was put in jail for using self defense against the

During the Boston Massacre, the soldiers fired on protesters without the instruction to do so from Captain Preston displayed by the fact that he was stupefied by the act of his soldiers, aggravated at these soldiers, and the only “orders of fire” came from the protesters. These observations were taken from the interviews of James Woodall, Newton Prince, and John Cole. According to James Woodall, Captain Preston was surprised by his men. It says directly from his interview that “The Captain, after, seemed shocked and looked upon the Soldiers. I am very certain he did not give the word of fire.” According to John Cole, Captain Preston was angry at the soldiers who fired. In his interview he explicitly says “The Captain came up and stamped and

He says that after, three to four soldiers shot into the crowd. William Sawyer, a Boston citizen supports Preston by saying that the crowd was “Daring’ em to fire.”. Daniel Usher, another Boston citizen says that, “the Captain commanded them to fire.” And blames Preston for the whole thing.

However, when a stick striking a British soldier caused him to fall, a shout of “Fire!”# was heard from Captain Thomas Preston#, prompting the British soldiers to shoot into the crowd and kill five colonists while injuring an additional six in what would later be known as the Boston Massacre.# March 5th observations were held until 1787 in Boston when they were ended in favor of Independence Day celebrations, which signified the Boston Massacre’s legacy as one of if not the key reason for the American Revolution.#

Revere depicts this encounter as if the British were the ones to blame for this altercation, the rifles in this picture portray the British been the first firing against the colonist. It also shows on the picture that the British were to blame for the death of the five colonists, and this is because the picture only shows one side of the story, was it seen some colonist being hurt laying on the ground, with no arms on hand and the British having an advantage over the helpless people. However, the depiction of this picture is that the colonists are reacting by the British when in fact, the colonist were the ones who initiated this attack against the soldiers. There are two signs that said, “Butcher House” and I believe the other one says, “Custom

The Boston Massacre is considered by many historians to be the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The fatal incident happened on March 5 of 1770. The massacre resulted in the death of five colonists. British troops in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were there to stop demonstrations against the Townshend Acts and keep order, but instead they provoked outrage. The British soldiers and citizens brawled in streets and fought in bars. “The citizens viewed the British soldiers as potential oppressors, competitors for jobs, and a treat to social mores”. A defiant anti-British fever was lingering among the townspeople.