What was the Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a key event in the American Revolution. It all started after the debt Britain gained from the Seven Years War. This led Britain to take that out on the colonies by taxing them on things like sugar and stamps. They also later passed the Townshend Act. Then in 1768, the British troops arrived in Boston to keep them under control. The Boston colonists did not like this and felt like they were being invaded.
On March 5th, 1770 some colonists were insulting and throwing things at the soldiers which caused a big uproar. The massacre resulted in five men killed and six others injured. They were ordered not to fire however one gun went off and a chain reaction started. This then started a big trial trying to figure out why the soldiers began to shoot at them. In his article "Massacre in King Street" Mark Clemens explains how they had to postpone the trials until the colonists could calm down for the soldier's own safety.1 However the Boston massacre was not as simple as I just laid out. It involves complex social ties that will be dived into further.
The Boston massacre caused further riots among the Boston colonists. For example, the Boston Tea Party happened in rebellion against the Tea Act. This is when they dumped a bunch of tea into the river. Eventually, it all led to the British soldiers evacuating Boston in 1776.
Paul Revere was a big cause of propaganda after the massacre happened. He made an engraving of the Boston massacre however the image he creates dramatizes the event.2 He makes it seem like the soldiers were true villains while the colonists were completely innocent. He shows the soldiers shooting but leaves out the colonist harrassing them. Once colonists saw this engraving they got even more upset than they already were.
The poem "A Verse Occasioned by the Late Horrid Massacre in King-Street" also shows the propaganda at the time. Like the engraving this poem paints a picture as the soldiers being villans. It starts off by saying, "On the evening of monday some Soldiers was seen, Parading the Streets with their Cutlassess keen, They walk't up and down with their Bayonets draw'd, Wounding all the poor people that came in their road."3 Then after more dramatization it goes onto describe the actual event saying, "Then came Capt. Preston, with his mighty crew, And then they atacked the people a-new, They Push't with their Bayonets as many does say, And prick't all the people that came in their way." 3 While yes this poem did explain some of the facts of the event like how many people were killed, the bias it shows helps fuel the fire the colonist already feel.
Both of these pieces of propaganda completely skewed the truth of the massacre. Both Paul Revere and the author of this poem painted a picture of innocent colonist and British murderers. Instead of instilling facts into the readers they instilled fear and anger. For a lot of the colonist this made them hate the soldiers being there even more.
1 Mark Clemens, “Massacre in King Street,” Michigan State University Libraries, accessed November 24, 2024, https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=ae7069e2-7b4b-482e-a9a0-14cfe1dc6e77%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3D#AN=97816629&db=elr.
2 Paul Revere, “The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King-Street Boston : On March 5th 1770 by a Party of Ye 29th Regt.,” 1770.
3 “A Verse Occasioned by the Late Horrid Massacre in King-Street,” MHS Collections Online: A Verse Occasioned by the late horrid Massacre in King-Street, accessed September 25, 2024, https://www.masshist.org/database/324?ft=Boston+Massacre&from=%2Ffeatures%2Fmassacre%2Finitial&noalt=1&pid=34.,