...In colonial America during the late 1700’s revolutionary sympathetic newspapers such as the Boston Gazette printed stories propagandizing the ideals of the patriots with the most incendiary of these being the account of the Boston massacre published on March 12, 1770. Along with this account of the events, we have another from Captain Thomas Preston, who was in charge of the British soldiers during the incident, from his trial. By analyzing these two accounts it is clear that the events that occurred on March 5, 1770, were exaggerated by The Boston Gazette as a form of propaganda to spur revolution rather than an accurate account of the event that took the lives of 5 colonists and injured 6. In the account of events published in the gazette,...
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...“FIVE DEAD ON KING STREET! BRITISH SOULIDERS ARE MURDERS!” That is just some thing that would be yelled after the Boston Massacre. What is the Boston Massacre you may ask? It was soldiers taking self-defense and ending up as murders. The time is 1770; its still cold out and there is snow on the ground. A group of drunkards are looking for a fight when they see a British solider. They start to throw snow and get rowdy. The British solider hit one of them with the butt of his musket when he started to fight with him. That just got the ball rolling downhill from there. The drunkards and the group that started to form scared the solider. He calls for backup. Now a group of 8 against 300, these 300 are pushing them against a wall, causing the soldiers...
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...On March 5, 1770, during the day colonists came and were armed with weapons who used them on the soldiers and were injuring them and killing some. I think the British Soldiers in the Boston Massacre are not guilty!!!!! I think this because there is much evidence to support my opinion, the soldiers were acting in self-defense. The first reason is a personal testimony it stated some things that were making it seem the soldiers were not guilty. The second reason is that in a drawing there were some soldiers and colonists on the floor which shows that the colonists and soldiers were fighting back. The first reason is that in personal testimony A it states things that say the soldiers were acting in self-defense. I think this because in the...
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...Act came the Townshend Acts, placing taxes on all imported goods. The colonists were angered and boycotted all imported goods. In response to the colonist’s actions, King George sent more of his troops to the colonies to maintain order. Not long after their arrival, the Boston Massacre occurred. The Boston Massacre was not really a massacre. In fact, it wasn’t officially called a massacre until 1773, 3 years after the event occurred. The Sons of Liberty, a secret organization formed to protect the rights of the colonists, used the event as propaganda to convince more people to join them. As seen in the picture in document 3, pictures illustrated the Boston Massacre as if the British soldiers had lined up and aimed their rifles purposefully at the colonists in an attempt to kill them all which was highly exaggerated. A little while after the Boston Massacre came the Tea Act, which technically lowered the price of tea, but nonetheless angered the colonists. In the colonists’ eyes, the British Parliament taxed an international item as a way to show their power. In response to the Tea Act, the Sons of Liberty organized the Boston tea Party where they dressed as Indians and poured 342 chests of tea into the Boston River. That angered King George, so he placed the Intolerable...
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...The Boston Massacre was a very tragic event that happened on March 5, 1770. It is a very important part of our history today. The Boston massacre was about the colonists and british throwing and firing things at each other, because the colonists started the event by breaking away from England and throwing objects at the British soldiers, and the British soldiers took it seriously and thought that they were declared to fight back. I think that the Boston Massacre happened as an accident. I believe this because the Boston soldiers were probably thinking the colonists were being cruel and wanting to actually start a war. One of the reasons that makes me believe that the Boston massacre was an accident is because the british soldiers thought that when they heard “Fire! Fire! Fire!” it was their captain and so they started firing guns and throwing snowballs like it says in one of the sources. Also the colonists had no idea that the british soldiers would fire guns and throw snowballs back at them or they never would’ve thrown sticks, rocks, snowballs ,or clubs at the British soldiers in the first place. I think the colonists got killed by an accident because the British soldiers used their instincts and fought back at the colonists before the colonists killed them before they...
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...The Boston Massacre was a horrifying event that took place on March 5, 1770, killing 5 people 2 on accident, and 3 died on the spot. The causes of the Boston Massacre in 1770 were to enforce unpopular taxation measures passed by a British parliament that lacked American representation, an angry mob of American colonists gathering and taunting British soldiers, and the British reaction. The British weren’t welcomed at all that’s when the riot began. Fifty citizens attacked a British sentinel, objects were thrown and weapons were fired. Patriot mobs threw snowballs, stones, and sticks. Several colonists were injured or killed on the scene because of the British and this led to one of the biggest wars in American history. In this essay it will show why the colonist was horrified by the reaction of the British in the Boston massacre. Before the Boston massacre October 1768 the British had been billeted after repeated request from officials who had been harassed and imitated because their effort to enforce unpopular taxation or Townshend acts. The Townshend act caused problems because they were expected to impose duties and taxes on paper, lead, paints, and tea imported to colonies. The Boston massacre killed 5...
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...“What was the Cause and effect of the Boston Massacre?” History IB HL Year 1 Internal Assessment Word Count: 1625 Table of Contents Cover sheet……………………………………………………………………………………………...Pg1 Table of contents……………………………………………………………………………………..Pg2 Plan of investigation………………………………………………………………………………..Pg3 Summary of Evidence.……………………………………………………………………………..Pg3-5 Evaluation of Sources……………………………………………………………………………...Pg5-6 Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………..Pg6- 8 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg8 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg9 A. Plan of Investigation The purpose of this paper is to answer the question, “what was the cause and effect of the Boston Massacre?” The body of the summary of evidence will investigate the people of the Boston Massacre. The summary of evidence will also investigate some of the lead up to the massacre. Documents will be analyzed to find causes and the build up to the Boston Massacre. The looking at a primary source and secondary sources will be heavily used. This paper will include the effects of the Boston Massacre such as the propaganda used to over exaggerate the Boston Massacre. In the documents being scoped at in this paper there will be the effects of the Boston Massacre such as The Committee of Correspondence and the 1773 Tea Act. While focusing on these aspects we analyze them into further investigation. B. Summary of Evidence The colonists were angering King George III, so...
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...According to my book it all started on the evening of March 5, 1770 when a couple of boys started provoking a British sentinel outside of the British Custom House in Boston, Massachusetts. The group of boys continued to bother the sentry and pushed him to his boiling point that caused him to hit one of the boys with his weapon. As soon as this happened an angry crowd surrounded the sentry to scare him and told him to ask for help. It so then happened that the officer of the day was Thomas Preston. He rushed to the site with seven British soldiers to protect the sentry. When he arrived, Preston and the seven soldiers tried to calm down the crowd but there hard effort was worth nothing because the crowd continued to disturb the sentry. When...
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...The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British solders. On the cold, snowy night of March 5, 1770, a mob of American colonists gathers at the Customs House in Boston and begins taunting the British soldiers guarding the building. The commanding officer at the Customs House, ordered his men to fix their bayonets and join the guard outside the building.The colonists responded by throwing snowballs and other objects at the British regulars, and Private Hugh Montgomery was hit, leading him to discharge his rifle at the crowd. Boston , the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and an important shipping town, was a major center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation customs officials seized the Liberty , a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock , on allegations that the ship had been involved in smuggling. The crowd continued to press around the soldiers, taunting them by yelling, "Fire!", by spitting at and throwing snowballs and other small objects at them. [ 23 ] Richard Palmes, a local innkeeper who was carrying a cudgel (ie, club), came up to Preston and asked if the soldiers' weapons were loaded. He recovered his weapon, and was thought to angrily shout "Damn you, fire!", then discharged it into the crowd though no command was actually given. Palmes swung his cudgel first at Montgomery, hitting his arm, and then at Preston. He narrowly...
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...The Boston Massacre was a crucial event in shaping the American Revolutionary War. The massacre occurred when British soldiers opened fire on the townspeople of Boston, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There were many events leading up to the massacre and many resounding effects. Tensions in Boston had been steadily rising with the implantation of taxes, the boycott of British goods, the Liberty riot, and the occupation of Boston by British troops leading to the Boston Massacre, which provided martyrs for freedom and gained support for war throughout the colonies. The taxation of Britain on the American colonists was the start of a series of events leading to the Boston Massacre. Taxes started being imposed after the French and Indian War,...
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...Michael Ferrick 12/13/12 Prof. Steffek Hist 1301 The Boston Massacre in the eyes of the soldiers of the 29th Regiment What really happened during the Boston Massacre is still a mystery, as many people had a different view about what they saw. The Boston Massacre took place in Boston Massachusetts, on March 5th, 1770, by the French and Indian War. More specifically it happened on the corner of Devonshire St. and State St., in front of Boston’s customs house between the soldiers of the 29th regiment and the citizens of Boston. Boston was a peaceful town until the government started passing tax acts such as the Stamp act and others. The Stamp act was later repealed but it’s effects on the people didn’t completely wear off, as some was still aggravated. There were other taxes that were also passed, as well as a board of commissioners; who was in charge of administering the local government. The Board of Commissioners was supposed to bring relief and keep the peace of Boston’s commerce. Instead, it did the opposite and brought up more trouble than it should have. First off, their residence was supposed to be at a place that was convenient for the town, but instead they didn’t take consideration of the citizens, placing it at the middle of the town. The Board of Commissioners was actually detrimental to the political interests of the people of Boston. Many of the peoples votes were not being counted for and some were criticized about what they voted for. In the case of...
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...Although many historians believe the Boston Massacre was murder, it is clear that it was an act of self-defense on the part of the soldiers. First, many believe that the colonists were unarmed but in fact some colonists carried cordwood sticks and other weapons. One colonist carrying a stick came from the crowd and hit a soldier. According to Andrew, Oliver's Wendell's servant's, testimony; he hit the soldier in the face and yelled to the crowd, "Kill the dogs! Knock them over!" Edward Garrick, another colonist, taunted soldiers and was struck with the butt of a gun but no shots were fired which displays the soldiers patience and not wanting anyone to get hurt. Meanwhile, Hugh Montgomery struggled as James Bailey testified that someone hit...
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...Boston Massacre: Murder or Self Defense In 1770, a bloody massacre of five deaths took place on the cold streets of Boston. Nine soldiers including their captain were in King street, in Boston, when a young drunk lad went up to one of the soldiers. The soldier hit the young lad and he ran off into the same pub he had gotten drunk in to tell everyone else about the soldiers up in King street. A huge mob of colonists went to the soldiers and started throwing items like rocks, snowballs and sticks. The soldiers started firing on the crowd with their guns. After the event the soldiers were branded murderers by some and by others innocent, for using self defense. The British used their weapons in self defense. For instance, the British were outnumbered...
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...In 1770, British soldiers shot and killed 5 people in Boston one night, and all of the colonists were furious at Britain and its army. But were they mad because of what actually happened, or was it because they were persuaded by someone’s depiction of what happened? Paul Revere’s Engraving was propaganda seen all throughout the colonies. Propaganda is ideas or statements that are often false, exaggerated, or biased in order to help a cause. It was propaganda because it was bias, exaggerated and false, and promoted furthering a cause or idea of starting the Revolution. Paul Revere’s Engraving was biased because it was altered in favor of the colonists. In the engraving, it showed that the British were bad with cruel intentions and that the colonists were innocent and had done nothing wrong. In the real story, many colonists had clubs and ice that they were using to provoke the British. But in the engraving, the colonists looked as though they were the ones being attacked, not the ones attacking. Also in the engraving, the British soldiers were looking mean and heartless. But rather they were...
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...Sierra Emilaire It was a seemingly normal Monday in Boston on the cold, snowy night of March 5, 1770. Many families were already in the safety of their homes, while others were still roaming the streets for reasons unknown. It was quiet and everyone appeared to be minding their own business, little did the city of Boston know what was planned for that night and who would be killed as a result of it. In the years following up to the Massacre, the Board of Commissioners had started to assume control over the colony after their arrival in 1767. The presence of this Board was becoming “detrimental to the commerce and political interests of the town and the province”. The people of Boston saw them as no more than a nuisance and treated them...
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