The Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre

On the same day that Parliament repealed most of the Townshend duties, a fight broke out between soldiers and colonists in Boston. When the dust cleared, five Bostonians were dead and others in the crowd were injured.

Patriots called this incident the Boston Massacre. A massacre is the killing of defenseless people. What really happened was a small riot.

Multiple Choice

A massacre is the killing of _________ people

• defenseless

• harmfull

Trouble had been brewing in Boston for months before the riot. To the British, Boston Patriots were the worst troublemakers in the colonies. In 1768, the British government had sent four regiments of troops to keep order in Boston.

Bostonians resented the British soldiers and made fun of their red uniforms by calling them “lobster backs.” Samuel Adams even taught his dog to nip at soldiers' heels.

Multiple Choice

Lobster backs...

• is a British Soldier

• Is a Colonist

Multiple Choice

This wasn't a massacre, but a ...

• riot

• revolt

Despite such insults from the colonists, the British troops were forbidden to fire on citizens, but knowing this only made Bostonians bolder in their attacks.  General Thomas Gage, the commander of the British army in America, wrote that “the people were as Lawless .  .  .  after the Troops arrived, as they were before. ”

Multiple Choice

British troops were allowed to fire on citizens

• true

• false

Paul Revere’s famous engraving of the Boston Massacre stirred up deep colonial resentment against Great Britain. Patriots hoped that the massacre would spark protests against the British government.

Multiple Choice

Who drew the drawing we just looked at?

• Thomas Jefferson

• Ben Franklin

• Paul Revere

Mob Violence Breaks Out

 On March 5, 1770, a noisy mob began throwing rocks and ice balls at troops guarding the Boston Customs House. “Come on you Rascals, you bloody-backs,” they shouted. “Fire if you dare.” Some people tried to persuade the crowd to go home, as did Captain Thomas Preston, the commander of the soldiers, but their pleas had no effect.

As the mob pressed forward, the troops, in a panic, opened fire. The bullets hit several people in the crowd, including Crispus Attucks, a black man at the front of the crowd. Attucks was the first to die after being struck by two bullets, but more deaths would soon follow. The now enraged crowd went home only after receiving a promise that the troops would be tried for murder.

• Paul Revere’s engraving of five coffins showing the victims of the Boston Massacre appeared on flyers to remind colonists of British brutality.

Massacre or Self-Defense? 

Samuel Adams saw this event as a perfect opportunity to whip up anti-British feeling among the colonists. He called the riot in Boston a “horrid massacre” and had Paul Revere, a local silversmith, engrave a picture of it. Revere's engraving shows soldiers firing at peaceful, unarmed citizens.

Prints of Revere's engraving were distributed throughout the colonies, and Patriots saw the Boston Massacre as proof that the British should remove all of their British troops from the colonies. Loyalists, however, saw the tragedy as proof that British troops were needed more than ever, if only to control the Patriot hotheads.

One hero, a Boston lawyer named John Adams, came out of this sad event. Although John Adams was a Patriot like his cousin Samuel, he also believed that every person, even the British soldiers, had the right to a fair trial. Adams agreed to defend the soldiers, even though he knew that his action would cost him friends and clients.

At the murder trial, Adams argued that the troops had acted in self-defense. The jury agreed with Adams and found six of the soldiers not guilty, while the remaining two of them were found guilty only of manslaughter, or causing death without meaning to.

Throughout his long life, John Adams remained proud of his defense of the British soldiers.  He said that upholding the law in this case was “one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered to my country.

Multiple Choice

John Adams

• commander of British soldiers involved

• first to die in the attack

• used event as propaganda, called it a "horrible massacre"

• created famous engraving of the attack

• defended British soldiers in court

Multiple Choice

Paul Revere

• commander of British soldiers involved

• first to die in the attack

• used event as propaganda, called it a "horrible massacre"

• created famous engraving of the attack

• defended British soldiers in court

Multiple Choice

Thomas Preston

• commander of British soldiers involved

• first to die in the attack

• used event as propaganda, called it a "horrible massacre"

• created famous engraving of the attack

• defended British soldiers in court

Multiple Choice

Crispus Attucks

• commander of British soldiers involved

• first to die in the attack

• used event as propaganda, called it a "horrible massacre"

• created famous engraving of the attack

• defended British soldiers in court

Multiple Choice

Samual Adams

• commander of British soldiers involved

• first to die in the attack

• used event as propaganda, called it a "horrible massacre"

• created famous engraving of the attack

• defended British soldiers in court

Multiple Choice

What role did John Adams play after the Boston Massacre?

• John Adams opposed the British soldiers who were accused of killing colonists

• John Adams defended British soldiers who were accused of killing colonists