A rallying cry of patriotism in the colonies. Some say it sparked the American Revolution. Can you imagine, a thing as small as an argument throwing our country into war? It was just a passionate protest, but it quickly escalated. The head British officer sent more soldiers to direct order, but with the guns laying there in their arms it only spiked the tension. Later that day there would be five dead bodies. And an argument that caused it all. The day started out with a group of protesters called The Sons of Liberty, also known as “Patriots”. They were formed in 1765 to oppose the stamp act . When the argument first occurred there were only a few colonists present, but after a while it grew to around 50, then 200 colonists. For the most part, …show more content…
It is now known as “The Boston Massacre”. Later that day twelve soldiers would be arrested. Despite the fact that twelve were arrested four were “acquitted” or released because they were accused of shooting from inside the building, but it was never proven. John Adams and Josiah Quincy, both defended the soldiers and Captain Thomas Preston the commanding officer while they were on trial. The trial for the eight soldiers started on November 27, 1770, and ended on December 5, 1770. One of the biggest pieces of evidence in the trial was a testimony from a wounded victim saying that the soldiers were provoked and were only defending themselves. But because this victim was lying on his deathbed his physician John Jeffries was to give the testimony second hand. The prosecutors did bring out witnesses who heard Private Kilroy saying that “he would not miss an opportunity to shoot at inhabitants”. Although this was some strong evidence against the soldiers the entire argument was not strong enough in itself. Matthew Kilroy and Hugh Montgomery were the only two soldiers found guilty. These two soldiers were facing the death penalty but avoided it by reading from the bible. Because both soldiers avoided the death …show more content…
But all were released when it was discovered that the witnesses account was false. The witness was later convicted of perjury. The trials were held about eight months after the incident, so that the negative feelings of the massacre would die down. So as you can see the soldiers found guilty did not get off the hook, and had to pay for their actions. Both of the trials for the soldiers and Thomas Preston were delayed because of the tension after the massacre. Despite the fact the trials were held 6-7 months after the massacre, the feelings towards the soldiers were still negative. A main reason for this is that the Sons of Liberty had started a propaganda war to try and change peoples mind about the relationship between the colonists and Britain. Which not only prevented the attention on the soldiers from dying down, but it also made it rise higher than before. Thomas Preston’s trial was held October 24, 1770 and ended October 30, 1770. Unlike the soldiers trial the case against Preston was strong as well as all of its evidence. There were multiple testimonies submitted from a numerous amount of witnesses.
After the shooting, the people of Boston demanded that the soldiers be tried and executed for the shooting. Two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter. This whole incident is outrageous. There isn't any need to result to violence when something goes wrong.
Little did the colonists know the bitter depiction of the 1770s “Bloody Massacre” blinded them from the truth. On the evening of March 5, 1770,
“Getting Away with Murder: The Acquittal of Thomas Preston” Gentlemen of the Jury, I am here today to prove that Thomas Preston was indeed guilty of ordering his soldiers to fire at the angry mob of men. The night of the Massacre, in front of the Boston Custom House Preston and soldiers came to protect the sentry and found a crowd of a hundred angry citizens who were taunting the sentry. Jeering the British sentinel more and more by telling the sentinel to fire at them and throwing snow balls at them. But it was when the crowd was ordered to fire that lead to fatal blows.
Three persons were killed immediately and two died later of their wounds; among the victims was Crispus Attucks, a man of black or Indian parentage. The British officer in charge, Capt. Thomas Preston, was arrested for manslaughter, along with eight of his men; all were later acquitted. The Boston Massacre is remembered as a key event in helping to galvanize the colonial public to the Patriot
No one is sure if the soldiers planned the attack against the angry bystanders or if bystanders instigated and started the fight. Thus leading us to the question what really happened on the evening of March 5th? During the trial of Captain Thomas Preston, there were many witnesses, but all of the witnesses seemed to have different stories. One thing almost all of the witnesses seemed to have in common was that none of the witnesses were close to
Although many historians believe that the Boston Massacre was an act of murder, it is clear that the incident was self-defense. First, On March 5, 1771, a group of colonists gathered and started taunting a soldier in front of the Custom House. Quickly more colonists gathered around the soldier. Different sources say that there were anywhere from 70-200 men that were there that night. According to Unsolved History: The Boston Massacre, Captain Preston got a group of soldiers to go out and get the soldier.
Mia Bassett 9/24/17 Period 3 Boston Massacre Notes since 1767 people had been rioting against British taxation Sugar Act (1764) Stamp Act (1765) Townshend Act (1767) People thought Britain shouldn’t tax the colonies because they could not elect representatives for parliament. people thought only Massachusetts Assembly could tax people (representatives were elected every year) riots and attacks against tax officials were common in 1768 troops were sent to Boston to protect government officials against mob attacks Quartering Act of 1765 required the colonies to house british soldiers in barracks provided by the colonies people felt imposed on people boycotted products affected by the townshend act a group of people gathered to demonstrate in
They started to stir up trouble. The colonists formed a mob. This mob began to ruthlessly provoke the British soldiers. This angered Hugh
The boston massacre was somewhat of an accident given the fact that there were several reasons for the incident. The massacre was not all the britishes fault for an example the bostonians were hitting the british troops with sticks and throwing snowballs at them. The article states that the british are not to open fire on the bostonians, but they still open fired and killed five bostonians. Witnesses that were interviewed then say that youngsters were throwing snowballs but were doing no real harm to the soldiers and therefore they should not have shot fire.
The Boston Massacre occurred on March,5,1770 in King Street. It began with friction between two groups: the patriots and the British. A large collection of people threw sticks and snowball at a group of British soldiers. Captain Thomas Preston called in more soldiers to help control the riot. Those extra soldier were hit too.
Before the beginning of the war of independence, the tension between the colonist and england were increased because of the massacre of Boston that was an event in Massachusetts, where colonist and england break their relationship through the manipulation of propaganda or “spin”. Soldiers from england were standing in front of a government building, when the bostonians attack because they were thinking that the soldiers was there because they want to charge more taxes as a result soldiers react to them, and 5 bostonians end up dead. And that was called the massacre of boston, that was a big deal because of the propaganda and the spin that was given to the people did not tell the true of the event, the people imagine all the event by Paul Revere's
Even though the Boston Massacre was a short fight there were many events that lead to it. It occurred on the day of March 5, 1770, in Boston. So now we are going to talk about the events leading to the Boston Massacre. The Stamp Act announced that all printed material had to carry a stamp with it.
There was not a massacre on March 5, 1770 in Boston because according to Captain Preston and John Bufford, the colonist and the troops were both armed and attacked each other. This means that what happened in Boston was not a massacre. The first reason the event was not a massacre is because the event in Boston 1770 was a war. As stated by Captain Preston “The colonists were assembling to attack the troops… they surrounded the guard and threatened to execute… after a soldier was attacked he fired…”. This supports my claim because it proves that, both the troops and colonists were attacking each other, and the troops attacking the colonists was not a random decision.
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a “patriot”. They were throwing sticks, snowballs, and trash at a group of British troops. The loyalists got very annoyed with the patriots so they shot into the mob killing five. The riot began when around 50 colonists attacked a British sentinel. A British officer called in for additional troops
The events of the Boston Massacre are recorded as a group of British soldiers firing upon a large group of colonists, killing three people on sight, one expired after the event, three were badly wounded, and four were slightly wounded totaling 11 civilians being shot. With multiple individuals such as Captain Thomas Preston, and Theodore Bliss claiming there were at least 100 people, as well as Peter Cunningham accounting 30-40 citizens gathered at the customs house. All three of these individuals were reliable in their depositions. Bliss and Cunningham were uninvolved in the act, both were bystanders to the situation.