The Boston Massacre was not a random event there were many actions that had led up to this massacre. On March 5, 1770 shots were fired from the British toward the colonists. But why?Why did the British fire? The Boston Massacre was important to the American revolution because the British killed unarmed colonists and the event would counting to spark the start of revolution.
The colonists were already uncontent because of British taxation, and the Boston Massacre would further enrage them. Tension had been high since October 1768 when 4,000 British troops first appeared in Massachusetts to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend acts. Reinforcement troops were sent by the parliament to increase the taxes on the American colonies.
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Everything escalated from that point. Crispus Attucks and other dockhands arrived armed In Front of the customs house. Captain Thomas Preston had heard all the commotion and called more soldiers and ran over to the post, and shoved down muskets and pushed through colonists and started shouting at his men not to fire. Throughout all the the loud screams a musket had fried followed by many many more. Soldiers just aimed their guns up and fired, They didn’t know exactly where their bullets were going because of all the debris and smoke in the air. When the Smoke cleared the British had seen that they had just killed 5 colonists by the names of Crispus Attucks, Patrick Carr, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, And James Caldwell.
A town meeting was called to discuss what had just happened in the streets of Boston demanding to remove the trail of Captain Preston and his men for murder. At the trial John Adams and Josiah Quincy II were defending the British regarding their discharge. Samuel Quincy and Robert Treat Paine were the attorneys for the prosecution. As more time passed two British soldiers were found guilty of
They shouted, “No taxation without Representation!” The Boston Massacre and The Boston Tea Party angered the colonists and the king. This caused trouble between the Patriots and the British which led to the American Revolution. To start with, The Boston Massacre was just
In 1770, he decided to signify the British soldiers on trial for the murder of five citizens in what is recognized as the Boston
On March 5, 1770 the Boston Massacre took place. The Boston Massacre was about a group of British soldiers who killed a group of people during a riot. That is what got colonist to rise up and start an attack. It is said in an online article, BOSTON MASSACRE, that, “ The killings of March 5, promptly termed a “massacre” by Patriot leaders and commemorated in a widely circulated engraving by Paul Revere, aroused intense public protests and threats of violent retaliation.” This massacre was the start of war for colonists.
On the evening of March 5th, 1770 on the cold streets of Boston, a group of British soldiers gunned down a crowd gathered in protest. What started as a group of young men harassing a guard would quickly escalate into what would later be referred to as the Boston Massacre as well as serve as fuel for the growing anger of the colonists towards Britain. This paper will analyze two accounts of this event. One is of a civilian observer by the name of William Wyatt whose account, while short, is to the point. The other is that of Captain Thomas Preston, the commanding officer of the soldiers involved who gives a much more dramatic description of the event.
On March 5, 1770 a street fight occurred between a mob of Boston citizens and British soldiers. The soldiers were increasingly unwelcome in Boston so the citizens threw snowballs, stones, and sticks at the group of soldiers who had been stationed here- the soldiers retaliated. The citizens were very outnumbered and the fight resulted in five deaths and six injuries from Boston. Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty named this event the Boston Massacre. The morning after, John Adams was sitting in his law office when Paul Revere revealed an engraving that showed Thomas Preston (captain of the British soldiers) ordering troops to fire at point blank range on the citizens.
What we know today as the Boston massacre was when the men of the British army fired their weapons at civilians that were on a riot. Many were killed in the firings, and this is all because of taxes by the government. They were known for their saying no taxation without representation, this blew up after British taxed their people after the French-Indian war, they were taxed for paper, tea, chocolate, just about anything. In the war there was a
Was the Boston Massacre Really a Massacre? One of the most common things talked about in the history of the U.S.A. is the Boston Massacre, but was this historical event commonly looked at as a massacre really a massacre. I believe that the Boston Massacre was not a massacre at all instead it was just the act of self defense of a few british soldiers that were being attacked by upset colonists. One of the most said things about the Boston Massacre is that the british soldiers fired into a crowd of innocent people, but there is many pieces of proof that says otherwise.
In Lexington, the British were met with colonial armed forces known as minutemen. Here, eight colonists died. In concord, the two groups met again, but the minutemen left victorious. This event caused the beginning of the Revolutionary
Someone in the regiment got panicked and started to fire back at the colonists. John Adams has described that the mob of Boston men were a bunch of angry and insolent men toward the troops.. Furthermore, the colonists was yelling, threatening and throwing everything they could find at the British soldiers
Although there are many reasons why the American Revolution started, a few of them had a larger consequence. First, the Boston Massacre had a major impact on the American Revolution. To continue, another instigator to the colonists seeking their independence was the Boston Tea Party. Lastly, The Battles of Lexington and Concord really pushed towards the American Revolution. Let us begin with how the Boston Massacre had a significant impact on the American Revolution.
Both had even heard that the army intended to murder the colonists rebelling. Even Captain Preston’s testimony stated that the soldiers had fired 4 times before the mob of colonists disappeared. Implements from their profession and snowballs with rocks inside were the colonists’ weapons in the Boston Massacre.
He even told them before heading into the street to not fire. Captain Preston was eavesdropping the night before and heard the Boston citizens planning on attacking the guard who was on duty at the custom house. For this is the reason the squadron was met with the mob. From Captain Preston’s Coy 2 account, it deems The Boston Massacre as provoked self-defense (Captain Preston’s Account of the Boston Massacre March 5 1770).
With the recency of 4 events and publication of the soldiers’ names it is reasonable to believe that an impartial jury could not have been composed. While a valiant effort was taken by Adams to defend the soldiers they were in a losing battle against an angry populace. It is reasonable to assume that the merchants and gentry who had lost control of their wealth through taxation were eager to have the British removed and their sovereignty restored. All those factors considered the story more likely than not was utilized to justify going to
If the following events didn’t take place we wouldn’t have America. In my opinion the Boston Massacre was one of the very main causes to why the Road to Revolution took place. The reason I believe this was an important cause because it was, “ the first episode which resulted in the loss of life.” It is stated that, “Four Bostonians were killed when Redcoats fired into an angry mob.”
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