Homework Help: Social Studies: U.S. History: The Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre was one of the greatest events during the Revolutionary War (a.k.a. the American Revolution). It involves a few horrible deaths and a great exciting story. There are also many different view points to this incident, making this incident a bit of a mystery.

Before the Boston Massacre started, there was already a lot of rebelling and punishing going on. One of the first documents that started to make the colonists angry was the Proclamation of 1763 which stopped colonial people from moving beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Next came the Stamp Act which taxed most paper goods and materials. The purpose of the Stamp Act was to raise money for colonial military expenses. The Townshend Acts were next, and taxed paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea.

Soon enough, people started to get angry at all of the taxes and aimed to destroy the tax revenues which were kept in a Custom's House. Because the Americans attacked the British but the British counter attacked and killed the colonists in the Boston Massacre, there are two different versions of the story: a British version and an American version:

British version:
On March 5, 1770, a group of big boys started to throw many snowballs at a guard by the CustomÕs House. More British soldiers immediately came to help the single guard, and warned to fire at the colonists but never did at the time. More boys decided to join the group, and they found harder items like wood, chairs, crates, steel, etc. Captain Preston came to the site shortly after, and told the British soldiers not to fire. The soldiers probably didn't hear Captain Prescott because of the noise that the boys were making and had to fire into the crowd. When the smoke cleared, seven quick deaths were announced.

American version:
On March 5, 1770, when one small boy started to throw a few snowballs at a group of British soldiers guarding a Custom's House, Captain Preston came to see what was the matter. Soon, some more little and young boys joined in with the first boy, and started throwing soft snowballs, insulted the soldiers, and threw dust at the soldiers. Captain Preston got furious and yelled "Fire!" The soldiers fired into the crowed, killing five kids and wounding two others. The two wounded soon died slow deaths a while after. The seven deaths included the death of the great black sailor, Crispus Attucks.

Now, about a day after the Boston Massacre had occurred, everyone started giving and yelling out their opinions in court and other various places. The British soldiers were found guilty and gave a bad look on the British. In return, the British repealed a few taxes, but more taxes were yet to come. So now today, we still remember the Boston Massacre and the horrible deaths and can compare it to the Kent State incident which happened on May 4, 1970.

Homework Help: Social Studies: U.S. History

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