BREAKING NEWS from the colonies, last night on March 5, 1770 at the Customs House an altercation between the British Troops and the colonists began, causing the deaths of 5 colonists. Yet, the colonists are no angels, what was supposed to be a small demonstration against the British turned deadly. The colonists are said to have provoked officers, by throwing stones, snowballs, and sticks at them. The history of the Boston, Massachusetts colonists and the British Troops is not good all. This is because ever since the British Troops were placed in the colony to enforce the Townshend Acts, the colonists have been on edge, but the peace has been kept until now. There are of course many versions of this story, coming from both the colonists and …show more content…
During the trial, Captain Thomas Preston offered his account of the massacre. Captain Preston recalls the commotion outside of the Customs House. He says that there were unlawful threats being said to the British officers. He also says that some colonists brought clubs and other weapons, to be used to execute British officers. The officer felt that the colonists were indeed going to kill him, and so Captain Thomas Preston supposedly gave orders to the eight other officers to open fire into the crowd. Thus, killing the 5 Boston colonists on March 5, 1770. Captain Thomas Preston was tried separately from the other troops involved, after their request for a joint trial was denied. During his trial Captain Preston, denies giving the soldiers, orders to fire into the crowd. Having three witnesses complying with his statement, saying that he said no such thing, but this was counterattacked when four witnesses from the prosecution, deny the statement and saying that Captain Thomas Preston did give the order to shoot into the crowd. One of the four prosecution witnesses, Daniel Craig, gives an detailed description of the officer he heard give orders to fire into the …show more content…
Saying they were the only two soldiers who were clearly proven to fire into the crowd. So on December 14, the two came in for a second trial, for their sentencing. During the trial, they were asked why they should not be put to death. They plead “the benefit of clergy” and instead were branded on the thumbs, to be forever reminded of that day. Mr. Samuel Adams cousin of the defense attorney during the trial Mr. John Adams, expressed is dismay of the decision. While Mr. John Adams says he was very pleased on the
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
John Adams agreed to represent the British soldiers on trial for killing the five civilians. Adams justified defending the soldiers because he was an open-minded gentleman who believed deeply that every person deserves a defense in court, so he took the case right away proving to everyone how serious he was about being right with the law and not by personal emotions. It actually took seven months after the incident known as the Boston Massacre for the start of the trials. When they did begin in October 24, 1770 they lasted until December 5th. The names of the soldiers that were brought in were; Corporal William Wemms, William McCauley, James Hartigan, Hugh White, Matthew Kilroy, Hugh Montgomery, William Warren and John
This incident also sparked more colonial rebellions and
In the early 1760’s, the tension between the people in Boston and the British soldiers started to grow until in early 1770, when the two groups reached their breaking point. On March 5, 1770, a group of men started intimidating a British soldier; he soon called for assistance but eventually the crowd had grown to practically one hundred people. Captain Thomas Preston and seven other soldiers arrived, trying to calm the situation down, but to no avail. A soldier fired into the crowd followed by the other soldiers firing soon after, resulting in five people being killed. Captain Thomas Preston happened to be arrested and charged with murder.
“[The British declare] that parliament can ‘of right make laws to bind us all in cases whatsoever’” (Dickinson and Jefferson, Document 5). Another reason why American colonists were justified in waging war on the British is because of the growing acts of British violence against the colonists. “Order quickly broke down, and the frightened soldiers fired into the crowd.
Hostilities against the Customs offices and staff by the citizens of Boston. The Crown responded by placing military forces within the vicinity of the Customs office, a police force was to protect government assets and staff. March 5, 1770 harassment of the Customs office and its staff was answered with gunfire; five citizens of Boston were killed. This event became known as the Boston Massacre. The media of the time picked up the story and sensationalized the event by using highly prejudicial biased propaganda.
Through this battle, Thomas Gage, the governor of Massachusetts, wanted to stop the growth of militias so he sent a group of British troops to Concord to seize colonial arms and to arrest any rebelling leaders. (Chapter 10) This lead to the famous event of Paul Revere’s saying, “The British are coming.”
During the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, the colonist’s militia gained word that Britain was sending more military troops to squash any opposition in the American colonies. Outraged by this knowledge, colonial troops took over the area the British were supposed to land and upon their arrival began to attack British troops. Because the colonists were thoroughly outnumbered and were lacking ammunition, the British soldiers were able to attack against them and gain the upper hand. Thus, the colonists lost this round. Though the colonists suffered a lost during this battle, the morale that was achieved throughout the colonies was very high.
The colonials were upset because of ridiculous taxing, which imposed by the British government. The colonist’s response to the situation was boycotting the goods. And so the British government dispatched thousand of troops in Boston, which created a tension between the colonists and the military. On March 5, 1770, the British troops gathered at the custom house in order to protect it. There was a strong resentment in the crowd, as they harassed the troops.
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.”
Therefore, I have proven that the Colonists should be held accountable for the first shot that fired on April, 19th 1775. Based on information documented prior to the first shot of the revolutionary war, The colonists were proven to be the angriest between the two groups. They had a reason to fire at the British first. On the other hand though, the British weren 't. They were proven to not have as much enterprise to defeat the Colonists. They were fighting only to defend themselves.
THE DEATH OF MERRIWEATHER LEWIS Merriweather Lewis was a national hero. He was governor of the Louisiana Territory, and was renowned by many for exploring the Louisiana Territory with Clark. Lewis was on his way to Washington to deliver possibly classified information, when he stopped at an inn. There were two gunshots heard, and Lewis was found dead, supposedly having committed suicide.
When the shooting ended, several people were dead and more were wounded. ”(Document C). With no freedoms, the colonists felt caged
Although many historians believe that the Boston Massacre was an act of self-defense, it is clear that the incident was murder by the British soldiers. First of all, the soldiers came out with all of their bayonets and other weapons raised. This shows it was murder because the soldiers were prepared to fire into the crowd when they got into the street, not just rescue the sentry. Secondly, after the first round of bullets, the soldiers reloaded and fired again. This is evidence for murder because the soldiers clearly intended to kill more colonists, not just try to scare them off.
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