The Boston Massacre: The Bloody Massacre By Paul Revere

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On March 5th, 1770, the event now known as the Boston Massacre took place, in which about 5 colonists were killed after soldiers opened fire on a riot. The event led to the engraving entitled "The Bloody Massacre" by Paul Revere. Revere was a well known silversmith and leader of Patriots, the group against the British Parliament, who had been taxing them and not letting them live in the areas they wanted to live in. The group called the Sons of Liberty was a group of Patriots who had held protests against the British taxation and boycotted many British goods in retaliation. The Boston Massacre occurred after a British customs official killed the 11 year old Christopher Seider, followed by a large funeral held by the Sons of Liberty. Tensions were high and about 5 people were killed in the Boston Massacre, leading to the engraving "The Bloody Massacre" by Paul Revere which "recorded" the event. Instead of accurately presenting the Boston Massacre, "The Bloody Massacre" was a piece of Patriot propaganda made to make more …show more content…

For example, in the engraving, Paul Revere used a calm color, blue, to show the colonists and gave them no weapons to defend themselves, while many people looked panicked. Revere wanted people to think the colonists were all innocent bystanders and had been randomly attacked by the British soldiers. However, according to the text describing the Boston Massacre, the colonists had thrown items at the soldiers before they even started to shoot. The quote from said text, "...taunted the British soldiers and threw snowballs and brickbats at them..." somewhat proves the colonists were not being innocent in the matter and were the ones who caused the shooting to occur. The detail was changed by Revere most likely to make the viewers of the engraving to feel bad for colonists and see the soldiers as blood

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