The Boston Massacre
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………….Page 3
Chapter 1: What Were The Causes?……………………….Page 4
Chapter 2: What Happened?........................................Page 5
Chapter 3: What happened after?.................................Page 6
Conclusion…………………………………………………………….Page 7
Glossary……………………………………………………………...Page 8
Sources Page………………………………………………………..Page 9
About the Author……………………………………………………………… Page 10
Introduction
Lobsterbacks! It was a dark and snowy night. There was an enormous crowd of colonists yelling at the eight soldiers who were guarding the Customs House. This ended as The Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre was caused by many different things and this historic event has many interesting parts to it. The events that happened after The Boston Massacre were very important to the rest of colonial history.
Chapter 1: What Were The Causes?
The Boston Massacre took place because of the taxes that King George put on resources that colonists needed. Since the soldier was at a tax building, the colonists thought it was the perfect time to get them back since they hated the tax. Boston was very anti-British and in 1768, when the government found out, they sent two regiments of soldiers to the city. They thought that the soldiers would remind the colonists that King George was in charge of everyone in America and England even though he did not live in America. On the side there is a picture of the king.
One thing that led to this event was The French and Indian War. What happened was the first generation of Pilgrims got along very well with the Native Americans. But when the other generations came to Plymouth, they cut down the Native American’s trees, scared or killed animals, and wrecked their land! The Native Americans could not take it anymore, so they fought back. They started to fight in 1754.
Other things led to this event like the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act took place in 1765 and it was also about taxes like The Boston Massacre. But the taxes were put on people because after The French and Indian war, England had to pay many debts. They also had to pay for the soldiers who remained in America. King George must have been a bossy man because he was making all of these rules and everyone had to follow them. The British government put tax on newspapers, legal documents, and even playing cards! Luckily to show how they felt about the tax, the colonists organized a boycott and did not buy British-made goods. Imagine if you lived in colonial times and you had to pay for people in America that you did not know.
The colonial times was like a battle zone because of all the problems. Even though we may be fighting with another country or group of people, there are no big wars and massacres here on American soil.
Chapter 2: What Happened?
One dark, snowy, and cold night in Boston, a soldier was standing promptly in front of the Customs House with a loaded musket in his hand. A teenage boy was passing the building. He started to shout insults at the soldier who was on guard. The soldier got angry and hit the boy with his musket. The boy ran away crying. But, he came back with his friends and they started to shout and throw snowballs at him. Reports say that “ a group of teenagers began pelting the guard with snowballs.” It must have been frustrating for the soldier to get showered with wet,and cold snowballs.
More and more colonists started to join around to see what was going on because the fire bells were ringing. This turned into a gigantic crowd. Meanwhile, eight more soldiers came to help. Crispus Attucks, a strong man, was holding a big, long stick and whacked a soldier's musket out of his hand. Other colonists scattered to grab the powerful gun for protection but sadly the soldier got it back.
Captain Thomas Preston tried to relax the angry soldiers, because he did not want to cause a fuss. The group of soldiers had their muskets loaded in their hands and were aiming at the colonists. The Captain told the soldiers not to fire their guns and they listened. But one soldier said that he heard the colonists say ¨Fire and be damned!¨ he thought that Captain Preston was the person who said fire so he started shooting. The others panicked and joined in. The soldiers were trained professionals because the British Army was the best in the world so they should not have panicked. It could be that Captain Preston actually said “fire” but he was just trying to cover it up.
This ended up as The Boston Massacre. When the smoke cleared up three lay dead and two were lying on the ground dying and seven were wounded. What if you witnessed The Boston Massacre. It would be traumatizing to see the dead men lying hopelessly on the road. Crispus Attucks, was a hero who died in this massacre. ¨On the death of five young men who was murthered. March 5,1770 by the 20th regiment¨ Paul Revere carved this quote into a statue to remind everyone about the massacre.
Chapter 3: What Happened After?
Bostonians demanded that the royal governor of Boston, Thomas Hutchinson, that he remove all soldiers from town and they wanted a trial for the captain and the soldiers. You might think that they did not get arrested because no one could prove that Captain Preston said fire. But actually, they did get arrested for manslaughter. The crazy thing is that one patriot leader, John Adams, defended the captain who was a torie! He did not agree with the colonists and he was also a great lawyer. Probably after a while the soldiers and the Captain were eventually let out of prison.
One event that happened after The Boston Massacre was The Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was mainly about taxes of tea. On December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and The Sons of Liberty went on three ships that were anchored in the The Boston Harbor and they dropped 342 chests of tea overboard. Even though colonists loved tea they did not like the tax on it. So to disguise themselves, they dressed as Native Americans so they would not get in trouble. They dressed as a tribe called the Mohawks.
Another event that happened after The Boston Massacre was The Battle of Lexington and Concord. This battle kicked off the Revolutionary War. One night on April 19,1175 hundreds of British troops were marching around Concord trying to capture two patriot leaders. Those two men were Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Meanwhile, Paul Revere was on top of things and sounded an alarm and so the patriots could fight back.
But finally, The Revolutionary War ended and The Declaration of Independence was made and everyone in America would not have to follow King George’s rules.
Conclusion
Boston has faced many tax problems, The Boston Massacre, and all the things that took place after the The Boston Massacre like The Boston Tea Party. They have gone through mini fights in the very long war. People should appreciate the colonists and the soldiers who fought for America because the colonists went through all of the agony and some lost their loved ones. Even though we cannot do things because they are illegal, we can still make our own choices for our own life. But one question that still remains is did The Boston Massacre happen on coincidence or did it happen on purpose because it was five years after the Stamp Act?
Glossary
Massacre: A murder of people who cannot defend themselves
Lobsterback: An insult for the British
Boycott: A break from social relations
Debts: Something that is overdue (mostly money)
Murthered: How people said murdered in colonial times
Regiment: many groups of soldiers
Sources Page
King George: https://en.wikipedia.org
Customs House: https://commons.wikimedia.org
Crispus Attucks: https://simple.wikipedia.org
The Boston Massacre: https://en.wikipedia.org
About The Author
Hi I am Lilah, the author of this book. I wanted to make this short so I am going to tell you my favorite hobbies. I am a gymnast, I am a rock climber, and I love to hang out with my four dogs and four cats. I also like to cook with my chicken’s eggs.
