Boston Massacre Research Paper

Improved Essays
The Boston Massacre should not be labeled as a massacre. Instead, it was mostly self defense. Depending on your perspective, the Boston Massacre can be interpreted in many different ways. Although, more sources provide the idea that the event was an act of self defense rather than the killing of innocent and defenseless colonist.

To begin, the event that took place on March 5th, 1770 was known as the Boston Massacre. Many say that the massacre was the result of the red coats feeling threatened or mistakimgly firing without command. During the trial after the Boston Massacre a testimony was given from a british officer known as Captain Thomas Preston. Preston’s testimony contains evidence and support that the Boston Massacre was in self

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Everett Massacre has been called the bloodiest labor confrontation in the Northwest’s history. The was an armed confrontation between wobblies and local authorities in Everett, Washington. The date that all of this took place on was November 5, 1916. I believe that the main reason that this happened was because local authorities would not let wobblies land for a speech. There were many things that led up to or caused the Everett Massacre.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre happened on March 5, 1770 when British soldiers opened fire on civilians. The massacre, as dubbed by Samuel Adams, began when colonists of the rougher kind threw snow-covered rocks at British soldiers in front of the courthouse. At that point, the soldiers opened fire. Because they had been directly assaulted, the soldiers believed they had the right to retaliate against the colonists. After the order to fire, they fired into the crowd, killing Crispus Attucks, a slave who had run away and become a sailor, and four other colonists.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Boston Massacre Dbq

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Pages

    After putting all these facts together and actually realizing all the things that went on, I believe that it was correct of Parliament to try and control their fairly young colonies but I believe they tried to impose too much and control too many things. For example, I feel that the Quartering Acts were not good duties to apply to an already rowdy and rebellious colonial organization, this gave Americans yet another reason to sever ties with the motherland. So for that reason and obviously for the over taxing of colonies, some of their actions were justified but not all of them. Specifically, I believe throwing all the tea into Boston Harbor was rather drastic as well as beginning the Boston Massacre. I know most people see it as the troops…

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Boston Massacre was the result of the colonists' frustration with British policies after the French and Indian War ended in 1763. They disliked Parliament's active involvement, and hated the presence of British soldiers, who seemed to be policing the colonists. They also resented the numerous attempts at taxation, such as the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, which Parliament tried to impose on them without their consent. When Parliament would not listen to their verbal protests, the expressions of their discontent became violent. Eventually, the Boston Massacre exploded onto the Boston political scene, and brought the colonies closer to revolution.…

    • 1939 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Boston Massacre; A Bloody Night March 5th, 1770. It’s a cold, wintery night and the British Redcoats have set up camp right in the middle of Boston, Massachusetts to enforce more tax laws. A group of angry, drunken colonists gather around all sides of the British troops for a not so peaceful protest. Clunk. One of the colonists had thrown a wooden club and knocked a British soldier off his feet and onto the ground.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre was one of the most important events that have ever taken place in Colonial America. It sparked the start of the Revolutionary War, which caused many of those loyal to Britain to rally with those who wanted freedom, and it was considered a turning point for many colonists, to fight the British. Life back then was hard. The colonists had tried to rebel and as a result; the British Parliament passed many acts that negatively affected the colonist’s everyday lives. Some of these acts were the Townshend Acts.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The citizens of Boston didn't have guns or swords, they had to use rocks in snowballs, and sticks to fight the soldiers back(“The Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770”). In the text, it states that Mr. Samuel Grey was killed on the spot when a snowball entered his head damaging a large portion of his skull. Soldiers showed no mercy and shot an innocent African American citizen causing death to the man(“The Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770”). If that one drunk soldier wouldn't have used his sword on that little boy, it could've prevented a lot of deaths. Otherwise, they were to blame for the incidents just by using a deadly weapon first.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    No, the incident name was not actually a massacre and it was an accident. The Boston Massacre contradicts the meaning of the word "massacre." According to Dictionary, "massacre is defined as the killings of a large number of usually unarmed people. "…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shots were fired, lives were lost, and another leg of the American Revolution began. The Boston Massacre caused the tension within the colonies between the Americans and the British that were stationed in Boston to escalate quickly. The Boston Massacre was a predictable event that was bound to happen, considering that anyone under a mistreating power will respond in a violent manner sooner or later. King George III was becoming increasingly irritated with the colonists response to the taxes that he was imposing, and repealing over and over again. The King began to treat the colonists like they were property and He owned them.(Boston Massacre Historical Society, 2)…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The widely known Boston massacre was one of the most iconic events that helped shape our United States of America. On March 5, 1770 eight British soldiers will fire onto a crowd on Kingś street killing five colonists and injuring many more. I do not believe Captain Preston or his men are to blame for firing among what turned into a rioting mob. Throughout this paper I will prove Captain Preston and his British soldiers are not guilty of murder but instead acted in self defence against an unlawful mob. William Sawyer a Boston citizen describes what he witnessed in ¨Eyewitness accounts of the Boston Massacre (1770)¨ He states that “The people kept huzzaing.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This day became known as the Boston or Bloody Massacre, on which three men were killed and more were wounded. This event jeopardized the ties between Britain and the colonies. The colonists would not stand for this unfair treatment much longer. John Adams wrote about the treatment of the British towards the colonists saying “ Nothing but equal Liberty and kind Treatment can secure the attachment of the Colonies to Britain.” (Doc 2).…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Adams wrote that the, “foundation of American Independence was laid” on the day of the Boston Massacre17. . The ultimate victory of the Boston Massacre was the eventual removal of the British soldiers from the area, and the escalation of protests and resistance by the colonists towards British rule, such as the 1773 Boston Tea Party18. The Boston Massacre was the significant event that led to the rebellion that followed, the Revolutionary…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 10 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Overall, the colonists brought the Boston Massacre upon themselves by provoking and ordering the soldiers to shoot and kill…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Causes and Effects of the American Revolution After the French and Indian War, Britain needed money. As a result, the British government placed taxes on the American colonists. The British thought that the colonists should help pay for the war since it had been fought partly to defend the colonies. The first tax was the Stamp Act.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Was the Boston massacre really a massacre? Or was it something else? Consider if the soldiers were justified or not in firing into the crowd? Did they have sufficient cause to fire into the crowd? Before we answer these questions, we need to know what set the stage for this bloodshed or as history calls it “Boston Massacre.”…

    • 1083 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays