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. At this point, the anti-British fever in Boston was rampant. To calm the …show more content…
The answer to this question is not exactly known. Of course he knew that taking the case would be dangerous, and should his reputation be tarnished by an angry mob, his ambitions and economic future would be threatened. On the other hand, Adams didn’t think it would have been morally right to not give Preston a fair trial. Because of how great the tensions were over this conflict between Adams’ political and personal beliefs, he wrote in his diary that he was “never in more misery in my whole life.” However, John’s duty to the law was so strong that he later wrote that, “It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.” So when Preston’s trial started in October of 1770, Adams argued that Preston had not given the order to fire and that his soldiers were provoked by the crowd. Eventually, the jury acquitted Preston on the basis of “reasonable doubt”- this was the first time a judge had ever used this term.
John Adams played an important part in these trials and ultimately made the decisions that were the best for his people. It was important the Adams decided to send the British back to their country to help disconnect the two relationships. The Boston Massacre was significant on a few levels. First of all, it further aggravated the relationship between the British and the colonists and helped to increase the growing calls for separation. The colonists became more and more bitter as the news of the Boston Massacre spread, helping enhance its’ importance in the steps leading toward the American
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.
According to this view Preston should be held responsible for the massacre in which he was supposedly at fault. My own view is that Thomas Preston did not give the command to his troops to open fire into the crowd of protesters and the verdict of innocent at his trial was very well justified. On March 5, 1770 a totality of five colonists was shot fatally while six others suffered from non-fatal
The colonists continued to protest the Townshend acts, so the governor asked Great Britain to send soldiers to the colonies. Great Britain had sent soldiers to the colonies to tighten their control on them. One of the violent protests was the Boston Massacre. In this event, an officer, gathering a group, struck a colonist. This group provoked the officers, leading to the death of five colonists.
In the famous engraving based on the Boston Massacre, by Paul Revere, the engraving illustrates the conflict tension between the colonists and British officials during the major taxing acts. The image setting encompasses a late afternoon, on King Street. The image displays British soldiers firing into a crowd of civilians, murdering three, and injuring two. The British have the advanatge of weaponary, and auhtority, giving the illusion the soldiers are guilty of assault, by the viewers point of view. An important detail to point out is the colors represented by the soldiers versus the colonists.
The Boston Tea Party disrupted this period of calm. In December 1773, a group of patriots took over three ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The harsh Tea Act imposed by the British caused this action. Two years later, the British began their march to Lexington and Concord to arrest patriot leaders and seize their weapons.
The various stories from individuals are most likely extremely biased. Although some, such as Preston’s, are sworn statements they can still have bias. Captain Preston was in a fight for his life when fighting the accusations that he was responsible for the massacre. The Boston Gazette says that the fight began between young boys and soldiers and slowly tensions rose. This is consistent with most other stories in some way.
The Boston Massacre was an accident in the beginning, but it continued to go on until it reached an extent where it could be an accident no longer. The real question is when did this accident start, and when did it get too far? Some say it should have never happened. others say it was the start of the revolution. Captain Thomas Preston was a British officer stationed in Massachusetts staying in a home with other soldiers under the Quartering Act.
It was beneficial and less hypocritical for him to defend the soldiers and give them a fair trial rather than persecute them as murderers, especially when it was the freedom of “rights to a fair trail” that John Adams was fighting
On the night of March 5, 1770, A major conflict between the American Colonists and British soldiers arose on King street. The British were taxing the Colonists, and the Colonists were protesting and boycotting against the taxes creating tension between the two sides. Since this happened, the British soldiers are the ones to blame for the Boston Massacre. The British Soldiers are responsible for the Boston Massacre According to the Committee of Boston, (Sam Adams, John Hancock and more…) “ This is without warning of their intention and killed 3 on the spot.”
RWDV says, “The jury acquitted Captain Preston on the basis of ‘reasonable doubt’ and acquitted six of the eight soldiers. Two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and thus escaped the death penalty.” Although there were some drawbacks, Adams was right to take the case and defend the Captain and his men. He demonstrated his dedication to the principles of justice and the due process of law, and he helped improve the image of the colonies. The Boston Massacre and its aftermath continue to serve as a reminder of the importance of upholding principles in the face of adversity and a testament to the power of justice and fairness in shaping
he infamous street fight that took place in Boston, Massachusetts is referred to as The Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770. The riot started when a few young boys began to throw stones and rocks at British soldiers who were guarding the Customs House. The crowd around the boys started to grow larger and larger, and then people from the crowd begun to join the boys, throwing ice at the soldiers and taunting them. The soldiers then fired, killing five colonists.
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
The Boston Massacre is an event most Americans and British students learn about over the course of their education. In America, we learn that British soldiers fired upon innocent civilians, although this may not have been the case. British historians have referred to the Boston Massacre as the "Incident on King Street". After looking over the "Captain Thomas Preston 's Account of the Boston Massacre", as well as "Boston Massacre Trial Depositions" I believe that American historians should refer to the "Boston Massacre" as the "Incident on King Street". The definition of a massacre refers to an unnecessary and random killing of a large number of individuals.
Tensions were high in Boston between the British and the Colonists. Between the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773, Britain was very upset with Boston. King George III, the Lord North- led British government and many of the British citizens were very upset and irritated when they found out that the Boston colonists had made “Tea with salt water”. Once the parliament heard of their escapade, they began thinking of a way to insure that there would be no more uprisings in the Massachusetts colony.