Boston Massacre Research Paper

To please the crowds Governor Hutchinson arrested the soldiers and promised the people that there would be a trial. John Adams and Josiah Quincy took the defense of the soldiers and Preston. The soldiers went to trial in September and they and captain Preston pleaded innocent. The eight men and Preston were tried separately and only two were found guilty. The others were acquitted while the two found guilty were branded on the hand and released, an easy penalty for murder. Preston was found innocent. Adams was successful in proving the soldiers fired in self-defense.

In conclusion, the British are to blame for the Boston Massacre. There are three reasons why the British are to blame based on this essay. These reasons are; the British could have handled the situation, they made unnecessary actions, and the British angered the colonists with the Quartering act and taxes. Since the British soldiers did not think through and fired at the colonists. They made the wrong choices which led to the death and injury of colonists. If the soldiers thought things through they faced the consequences and push the colonists closer to revolution. That is why the British are to

The colonist are at fault for the Boston Massacre because they were taunting the soldiers. For example according to Newton Prince an eyewitness, he said that he heard the colonist were calling the soldiers lobsters and

As previously mentioned, the militia were already expecting the arrival of the British Troops. Six troops were being led by Major John Pitcairn while reinforcements were being requested. The militia that awaited Pitcairn and his troops consisted of 137 men who were assembled by Captain John Parker. The militia waited in taverns while a few men were sent out to locate the British troops and figure out their estimated time of arrival. Unfortunately, many of these men did not return. They were mostly arrested by the British.

Before the Boston Massacre even occurred, tensions were high in the city of Boston between the Bostonians and the British. At this time people were just

On March 5, 1770...The Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British, was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed people while under attack by a lot of colonists. There was not a  massacre on March 5, 1770 in Boston because. According to the sources B,C and D say that the colonists had weapons and they were also attacking in the massacre. The evidence that supports my claims is that in documents B,C,D the colonists are clearly seen with weapons according to the documents with the gazette, it said that the colonists had weapons and were involved in the fight. This supports my own opinion because in document b the colonists are seen with some type of sword or golf club. My second reason

With colonists throwing snowballs with shards of ice to colonists laying on the ground and losing blood. 5 colonist deaths and 6 nonfatal injuries that profoundly affected their day-to-day lives. The Boston Massacre was a fatal altercation between a mob of violent protesting colonists and a group of British soldiers protecting themselves. It occurred on the night of March 5th, 1770, a small argument broke out between a few colonists and British Private Hugh White in front of the Custom House in Boston. After a while, more colonists started to gather around creating an agitated mob. Many think that the British were at fault for firing when not given permission, and others think the colonists were at fault for harassing and mocking the

He ordered his men to take up “street firing” positions. He was preparing his men to attack the oncoming rebels. The Redcoats set up their street firing positions from behind the bridge perpendicular to the river. Captain Laurie was inexperienced and called the wrong tactical maneuver for the situation. The street firing tactic was appropriate for sending a large volume of fire into a narrow alley between the buildings of a city, but not for an open path behind a bridge. Confusion ensued as the Redcoats started retreating over the bridge in an attempt to form up in the street-firing position. Redcoat Lieutenant (LT) William Sutherland, who was in the rear of the formation, knew that maneuver was not adequate for the situation and ordered flankers to be sent out. LT Sutherland was from a different company and only four soldiers obeyed him. The remainder of the troops, despite the confusion, followed the orders of the superior officer. (1775, 04/19: Battles of Lexington and Concord. (2007, June 26).

The act also gave customs agents the authority to search property, including the colonists’ homes. The colonial response to these acts was increasing violence against the customs officials. In 1768, the British government sent troops to America to reinforce the Townshend Acts and protect the customs agents. At one point there were 4,000 British soldiers in a city of only 16,000 people (Phelan, 24). According to Phelan, there were “almost daily confrontations” between soldiers and civilians (38). There was increasing tension between the troops and the American colonists. Some children as well as adults tormented the troops by throwing snowballs and chunks of ice at the soldiers. There was also increasing tension between the colonists who were loyal to the Crown and those who were loyal to the colonies because some store owners broke their agreements about importing and selling British goods. Children threw trash and rocks at those storeowners’ buildings. Several days before the Boston Massacre, one of the loyalist merchants shot and killed a young man who was a part of group vandalizing his business (Phelan, 44-46). The colonists’ tempers flared.

This article has tons of information about what happened that day. It is a very useful source because his words and feelings were common with his neighbors who were angry at the troops too. Through his voice, one can hear the cries and complaints of the townspeople of Boston. However, this is only one side of the story and putting all the faults on the British troops for firing doesn’t seem very convincing.

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.

The Boston Massacre is one of the most controversial events in American history that occurred in Boston before the American Revolution. Certainly, it has a fundamental role in the development of America as a nation, which led it to have a huge motivation for revolution. A heavy British military presence and having very high taxes in the country were some of the main reasons that made Boston citizens very irritated. Thus, there were already many disagreements and tensions between inhabitants and the British that could have led to the Massacre. In this essay, I will carefully analyze three primary sources, and compare these to the interpretation given by HBO’s John Adams. In my view, these sources can be

“Between the hours of nine and ten o’clock, being in my master’s house, was alarmed by the cry of fire, I ran down as far as the town-house, and then heard that the soldiers and the inhabitants were fighting in the alley… I then left them and went to King street. I then saw a party of soldiers loading their muskets about the Custom house door, after which they all shouldered. I heard some of the inhabitants cry out, “heave no snow balls”, others cried “they dare not fire”. The Boston massacre has been no massacre it was propaganda. The incident that happened March 5th, 1770 in the streets of Boston only killed five people and had six people with non fatal injuries. There were

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.