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Boston Massacre Although some of the historians believe that the Boston Massacre was an act of murder, it is clear that the incident is an act of self-defense. First, of all there were only eight soldiers but, there were more than 200-300 colonists their according the Unsolved History: The Boston Massacre. The soldiers probably felt threatened by the colonists. Crispus Attucks was a tall African-American sailer that just got out of slavery and was leading the pack of colonists. He struck a soldier with a large stick and it knocked him over. Attucks grab his bayonet yelling "kill these dogs and knock them over". The soldiers probably took that as a threat. Third, James Bailey testified that Montgomery was struck

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