The Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, colonists were taunting a British sentry outside the Customs House. This was common for a day in colonized America. However, this day was more meaningful than any other before. The British sentry retaliated causing a considerable mob of colonists to get involved. Then some more British came to aid their comrade. Amid the chaos, the British fired their muskets into the crowd killing five and injuring three. This would later be referred to as the Boston Massacre. A lack of discipline by the British Soldiers prompted the Boston Massacre.
British presence in America became increasingly unwelcome during the 1700’s. The regime repeatedly became more authoritarian and deprived the colonists of their freedom. When the British made their way into Massachusetts in October of 1768, colonists were enraged. Years of major battles with France left England in need of money. The imperial government called for heavy taxes which were used only for the benefit of Great Britain itself. These taxes included housing British soldiers ("British Reforms and Colonial Resistance, 1767-1772 - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress"). There was absolutely no Democracy at the time. Regulars would abuse their power to intimidate and control the wrath of the colonists.
The Americans would not allow themselves to live under harsh rule without any kind of resistance. Nonviolent means of diplomacy were demonstrated to give themselves freedom. After all, one does not start a violent revolution without asking for a chance to be heard. As expected, the British did not listen. Colonists turned toward protest. Protest eventually turned to action. Action led to bloodshed ("P...
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...ite, Private John Carroll, Private William Warren, Private William McCauley, and Private James Hartigan were all acquitted (DiCanio et al.).
Although no one involved in the Boston Massacre was found guilty of murder, firing at unarmed civilians is never acceptable. The Americans had a right to protest and demonstrate against the British rule. When they were ignored, they had no choice but to go further because no one wants to live in slavery. The British soldiers had a choice not to shoot. If they can’t handle the stress of making tactical decisions, they shouldn’t be in a situation where they may have to go into combat. Hitting the colonists in the face with the butt of their rifle could have been acceptable. There was no warning of shooting either. Captain Preston could have fired a warning shot, which would have probably gotten everybody to stop and listen.
Gary B. Nash argues that the American Revolution portrayed “radicalism” in the sense on how the American colonies and its protesters wanted to accommodate their own government. Generally what Gary B. Nash is trying to inform the reader is to discuss the different conditions made by the real people who were actually fighting for their freedom. In his argument he makes it clear that throughout the revolution people showed “radicalism” in the result of extreme riots against the Stamp Act merchants, but as well against the British policies that were implemented. He discusses the urgency of the Americans when it came to declaring their issues against the British on how many slaves became militants and went up against their masters in the fight for a proclamation to free themselves from slavery. But he slowly emerges into the argument on how colonists felt under the
When the colonies were being formed, many colonists came from England to escape the restrictions placed upon them by the crown. Britain had laws for regulating trade and collecting taxes, but they were generally not enforced. The colonists had gotten used to being able to govern themselves. However, Britain sooned changed it’s colonial policy because of the piling debt due to four wars the British got into with the French and the Spanish. The most notable of these, the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years’ War), had immediate effects on the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain, leading to the concept of no taxation without representation becoming the motivating force for the American revolutionary movement and a great symbol for democracy amongst the colonies, as Britain tried to tighten their hold on the colonies through various acts and measures.
It seemed that the more and more England tried to scare the people, the angrier they got. The tactics obviously didn't work, but instead pushed the colonists even further into. standing up against Britain. The British soldiers in America were told not to entice violence, and especially not to kill anybody. Accidents do happen, as well.
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines massacre as “the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty” or “a cruel or wanton murder” (m-w.com). Essentially a massacre results in either the death of many people or death by cruel means. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts and involved American colonists and British troops. The colonists, upset by recent laws enacted by the British, taunted a smaller group of British soldiers by throwing snowballs at them (Boston Massacre Historical Society). In response, the soldiers fired upon the unarmed colonists leaving five people dead and six wounded (Phelan, 131). Even though the event in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which blood was shed, and called the Boston Massacre, the actions which took place on that day did not constitute a massacre. Since only five people were killed and six wounded and there was no evidence of cruelty, the name Boston Massacre was likely a propaganda ploy by Samuel Adams to rally the colonists against the British instead of a true massacre.
The Americans acted on this plan, so British troops would be removed off American soil. The Americans had to plan about this riot for days and knew that some lives was going to be lost. The citizen were not thinking about the outcome of their plan, or how lives would be changed forever because their decision to pick a fight with the British troops would have been changed. My personal ethic perspective would be deontological ethic because I would react to by thinking about the wrong and right way because of my religion. Since I am a Christian, I would have to think to see if the result going to affect me in a negative way or influence my life in a positive way. If Americans would have thought about their religion and beliefs, then the Boston Massacre would have been an idea not an event. If I was one of the Americans in the Boston Massacre, I would have tried to talked people out of doing the deed. I would have questioned their beliefs and make them picture the outcome of picking a fight with the soldiers. Some of the American citizen would have backed down, but most of them was going to act upon the deed. Even someone would have tried to stop the angry mob, the results would have been the same anyways. If the Boston Massacre was avoided, American’s history would have been very different in terms of what would have happened with
On March 5th, 1770 the colonists were going to protest against the British rule because they were being unfair to the colonists, with taxes being passed without the colonists’ approval. The proclamation of 1763 didn’t help stopping people from settling across the Appalachian mountains even though people fought for it. Also each house had to house and feed a soldier. Many other taxes on different items also caused colonists to be angry. Many started to protest one of these protests had the colonists in front of government building with weapons the British soldiers then fired killing five and injuring others. There was not a massacre on March 5, 1770 in Boston because there was not a massacre on March 5, 1770 in Boston because less than ten colonists
A new era was dawning on the American colonies and its mother country Britain, an era of revolution. The American colonists were subjected to many cruel acts of the British Parliament in order to benefit England itself. These British policies were forcing the Americans to rebellious feelings as their rights were constantly being violated by the British Crown. The colonies wanted to have an independent government and economy so they could create their own laws and stipulations. The British imperial policies affected the colonies economic, political, and geographic situation which intensified colonists’ resistance to British rule and intensified commitment to their republican values.
That day would happen on March 5th 1770. On this evening, a British guard was patrolling a custom house, some colonists began taunting the soldier and soon a crowd of angry colonists arrived. The British officer decided it would be necessary to call in more troops. Later, around eight soldiers arrived to support the guard, by this time the mob grew to about three hundred people. A colonist kicked one of the soldiers down, and the soldier fired upon the crowd. After a short pause, the other British troop fired on the colonists. Thanks to the press and art of Paul Revere, this event is now known as the Boston Massacre. The Boston Tea Party, one of the most famous events of per-revolution America. The British imposed a tax on all tea and this united the colonists in an agreement against the tax. The Sons of Liberty once again mobbed up and threatened the shop owners to not support the tax. Throughout the colonies, agents of the Tea Act were forced to resign. When this didn't seem to be enough, the Sons of Liberty devised a plan at the liberty tree in Boston. On the night of December 16th a group of men dressed as Mohawk Indians, boarded four British ships carrying tea and dumped it all into the harbor. This tea never landed and therefore this tea was never
By the 1760's many Americans were beginning to become dissatisfied with their mother nation and were waging a war of resistance against the British colonial government.
On the day of March 5, 1770, British soldiers opened fire on a group of colonists in boston, killing five men, including Crispus Attucks, Samuel Maverick, Patrick Carr, Samuel Gray, and James Caldwell. This event would soon be known as the Boston massacre. There were many factors that led to this shooting, most from the colonists of Boston, who were provoking the soldiers by attacking them and throwing objects at the soldiers, and also could have made the British troops to panic by closing in on them.
On March 5, 1770, an event occurred in Boston, which consisted of British troops shooting upon colonists. People refer to this as a massacre, but they only look at one side of the story. The Boston Massacre in 1770 was not really a massacre, but a mutual riot (Boston Massacre History Society). British soldiers went to America to keep the people of Boston in order. However, the soldier's presence there was not welcomed by the Bostonians and this made things worse (Boston Massacre History Society). The British had to fire their guns because the Bostonians were antagonizing the soldiers, which caused five people to die. The Bostonians made the soldiers feel threatened so in turn they acted in self-defense. The British soldiers and their Captain had to go through a trial, to prove they were not to blame for what had occurred.
Overall, it seems that the tragedy that happened in Boston of the night of March 5th could have been avoided if the citizen of Boston had acted differently. If the crowd had not been in such mayhem, the soldiers would have been able to hear the Captain more clearly and they never would have fired without the proper command. As for Captain Preston, he received the verdict he deserved because as witnesses can attest he never yelled fire, he actually yelled the opposite. The overall massacre was one big misunderstand that sadly ended in tragedy with average Bostonians losing their lives.
Whitehouse goes on to saying that a soldier got knocked down by a chunk of wood that a man got it from under his coat. Based on most against Preston and some for Preston testimonies like the Benjamin Burdick against testimony, he said that he saw” stick thrown at the Soldiers” not a big chunk of wood that would knock a soldier out. Whitehouse testimony was most likely to distract the jury from the other strong testimonies that were made against Preston, so they might think that there is something that they are misinterpreted from the other testimonies. These testimonies show evidence that Preston ordered his soldiers to fire at people who some of them were innocents who were just there to fulfill their curiosity of the situation to murder them. The Boston Massacre created a new attitude in people that was not there before. It created more hatred toward the British forces living with them and taking their money from them. It also made us understand that the American Revolution is coming because the people will not wait until another massacre to happen to kill more people of their own, they want the British to
Tragedy struck on March 5, 1770 when five civilians in Boston were shot, and six were injured due to the actions of British soldiers in the area. Tensions were high on King Street, as the citizens became more and more outraged at the British’s taxation of Boston residents. Despite the small number of casualties, this event became pegged as the Boston Massacre. The event, as well as the aftermath, caused a stir among the American public. Due to massive propaganda, it became a crucial event that sparked the Revolutionary War and many American citizens’ feelings towards the British.
...he fact that they had no political power and were controlled by a country that was thousands of miles away from them. The American Revolution began as a conflict over political and social change, but soon developed into a dispute over personal rights and political liberty. A decade of conflicts between the British government and the Americans, starting with the Stamp Act in 1765 that eventually led to war in 1775, along with The Declaration of Independence in 1776. Americans united as one and knew that they wanted to be an independent country, have their own laws, rights, and not be colony of the Great Britain. They fought hard for their independence and people lost their lives in the process of it but in the end they succeeded. Never give up, keep fighting till the mission is accomplished just like the Americans did when they were fighting for their independence.