The Events Of The Boston Massacre

Some guns were fired at us from the first platoon.” This quote is important because, he states that the British shot first. And the British say that “ lay down your guns or we will kill you all. The colonists didn’t lay down their guns so, the British

On March 5 1770, a street fight occurred between British soldier and a crowd of colonist, assembler at the custom house in Boston and started insulting the British soldier who was guarding the building; Those colonist where protesting because of the occupation of their city by the British troops sent there in Boston to authorize a taxation measure passed by the British parliament and needed American representation, and also call a Townshend Acts. While colonist was protesting outside the building, the British captain and commanding officer Thomas Preston, requested his soldier to settle their bayonets and join the other guar outside the building. The colonists reacted be tossing snowballs and different items at the British regular, and private

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

The conflict quickly becoming known as “The Bloody Massacre” or “The Boston Massacre”; it fanned the flames of anger to the British, and was one of the main reasons the Revolution started. The eight British soldiers, and their captain, Thomas Preston, were all given trials, their lawyer being John Adams, future president. Adams claimed that the colonists were an angry, unorganized mob, that forced his clients to open fire on them. According to Adams, Attucks was leading the fight, though constant debate raged about how he was involved in it. Samuel Adams said that Attucks was simply “leaning on a stick” when the firing started.

In document B of the packet it states, “On this a general attack was made on the men by a great number of heavy clubs and snowballs being thrown at them”. This works because this shows how the colonists acted. It also shows that the Colonists were abusing the soldiers. Another reason that the Colonists were to

The British were responsible for armed conflict, as they oppressed the colonists repeatedly starting with random unfair taxes, like the Sugar Act of 1764,The Stamp Act of 1765, and possibly one of the most unfair,The Townshend acts of 1767. The colonists were left with no choices, their privacy, property and well being was being invaded through the use of acts passed with no say from the people who were being imposed. Consequently, events like the Bostons Massacre were milked as highly effective propaganda to turn Colonists against the British by rebels like Paul Revere. Although events like the Boston Massacre may have been blown way out of proportion, they still convinced many to be aggravated and choose to revolt. One of the last straws

But many witness statements are biased and unreliable due to the amount of chaos during the time of the event. Peter Cunningham asserts he's pretty positive Captain Preston told the soldiers to prepare and fire (Cunningham Source C). However, giving an order to prepare to fire is completely from an order to actually fire. Surrounded by about 100 others yelling “fire”, Wyatt and the British soldiers claim to he have heard Preston’s order (Source B & C). This claim is highly implausible.

The British fired into the crowd without orders of the leader. The colonists yelled at them to shoot

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 British fought to defend themselves. They had no intentions of getting back at the colonists for their misdeeds. The colonists should also be held accountable for the first shot, because the British didn 't plan ahead to specifically target the colonists. Though, the Colonists purposely targeted the British. I believe

Now, who is to blame for this incident? Well, the British Soldiers are to blame for the Boston Massacre because they didn’t hear things clearly and they reacted with violence rapidly. The British soldiers are to blame for the Boston Massacre because they didn’t listen carefully and shot immediately after they thought the captain said to

According to Captain Thomas Preston in Document B, “On my asking the soldiers why they fired without orders, they said they heard the word fire and supposed it came from me. This might be the case as many of the mob called out fire, fire, but I assured the men that I gave no such order.” Since somebody shouted the order to fire, the British soldiers were wholly following what they thought was an official order. If nobody from the British ordered “fire,” the Americans could have been firing lethal weaponry. And because they waited for an order to shoot, it proves they did not fire into the crowd solely to put an end to the protest.

The British soldiers are not guilty because they only used self defense against the colonist. First, the soldiers are not guilty because their lives were in danger. Captain Thomas Preston states, “They [colonists] advance to the points of the bayonets...seemed to be endeavoring to close with the soldiers.” The colonists were coming closer to the soldiers,

he boston massacre was a large turning point in history for the American revolution, and sparked the beginning of the revolution. The boston massacre began on the evening of March 5th 1770, when a group of colonists gathered by a lone british soldier outside the Boston custom house located, on Kings street in Boston, and began a small street brawl. This small fight quickly escalated into something much larger and deadlier. The fight began as tensions were high between the British and the Americans, because many soldiers were put in place throughout Boston to enforce the hated tax laws. Angry colonists started physically and verbally assaulting soldiers using weapons such as bats, sticks, snowballs, and more to harm the soldiers on duty.

This demonstrates how harsh was king George III with the colonists. The King punched colonists in the face every time he had the chance. He was also bugging them by not putting attention to their petitions and requests of a friendly peace. This war had all the reasons to be a war of self-defense, they were tired of trying to make someone happy that hurted them. King George III did not had any right to punish or treat them that way, which is why colonists felt oppressed by the government and saw the injustice which is why this war can be justified as a self-defense war.