The+Boston+Massacre

**__THE BOSTON MASSACRE__**

**1)** The Boston Massacre was a fight that took place on the streets of Boston on March 5, 1770 between colonist rebels and British soldiers. It began with about 50 people who attacked the militia because they felt the soldiers were a threat to their everyday life. During the attack Captain Thomas Preston called in addition forces to tame the crowd. Many people died and among the first were Crispus Attucks an African Sailor, James Caldwell who was a mariner and the rope maker Samuel Gray. Soon after the attacks the town was in uproar, the citizens required a town meeting that demanded the removal of the British soldiers in Boston and wanted them to be trialed for murder. One of the most prominent lawyers, John Adams defended the British because he believed that one had a right to free trial. This led to some of the soldiers’ release, even though two of them still were convicted of manslaughter. The Boston Massacre soon led to the beginning of the revolutionary war. media type="file" key="question 1 recording.wma" width="150" height="150"  -Arielle Kirven media type="file" key="REDORDING 1 ROOTS OF REVOLUTION.wma" width="80" height="80" 2.) The British and the colonists had been struggling to keep peace with eachother.The Britsh had been passing laws over the colonists, forcing them to pay unfair taxes and making thew coonists withdraw to the east b y passing acts, such as the Tea Act, the Declaratory Act, the Stamp Act, and more. The colonists were very angry, and started teasing a group of soldiers and throwing rocks and snowballs at them. Somebody, yet we do not know who he was or what side he was on, yelled "Fire!". The British soldiers were frightened, and started shooting at the colonists. The first of them to fall was an African-American slave. He is heroically remembered as the first man person to die, for the cause of the American Revolution.

-Anna Luisa Brakman

 **3. How did the colonists react to the Boston Massacre?** The colonists were already mad at the British because they were occupying the streets of Boston and creating chaos. So when they found out that soldiers shot three of them, they became furious. When John Adams agreed to defend the British in a trail I think the colonists would have been shocked. John Adams agreed to defend them because he believed that everyone needed a fair trial. He was a well-respected man so I do not think that the colonists would have been mad at him and they probably thought that he had a good reason for defending them. media type="file" key="how did the colonists react to the boston.wma" width="223" height="97" -Mary Livingston

4. The colonists’ reaction affected the British greatly. Already the colonists didn’t want the British to be guarding the streets of Boston. So after the massacre when they found out that the soldiers killed at least 5 of their fellow citizens, the colonists became furious and sent the soldiers to trial for killing the colonists. Some of the soldiers had to go to trial and should’ve been guilty except they were represented by John Adams who helped grant them innocence from the judge. The colonies were so shaken by the massacre that after it, the royal governor evacuated the troops from Boston. The Boston Massacre showed the colonists that they could revolt quickly and that just with armed rebellion they could win their independence, and this affected the British in the war to come.

media type="file" key="question 4 recording.wma" width="150" height="150" - Arielle Kirven

5. The Boston Masacre affected the colonists themselves because the colonies were brought together. They worked together to get the soldiers that had fired punished, and they had all reunited and fought the enemy. Also, some things were changed for some of the colonists. The colonists believed in the rght to a fair trial. John Adams, a proffesional colonial lawyer, defended the British soldiers. This was important because Britain and the colonists saw that everybody, no matter how small the chance may be of being declared innocent, deserved the riight to a fair trial, and the fact that a lawyer from the opposing side helped the men from Britain was an eye-opener for the colonists. The Boston Massacre was very important for the colonies to develop as a Union.

-Anna Luisa Brakman

**6.** After the shooting at the Boston Massacre happened, a trial was held for the British soldiers who were shooting the other colonists. John Adams defended the British soldiers and out of all the soldiers only two were found guilty. The two soldiers were burned on the hand as a sign of punishment. This punishment was painful but the British were allowed to live. I think they were not killed because the colonists were the ones who provoked the British by throwing stones at the soldiers. No one knows today, if the two who were convicted were the ones who killed or shot the colonists. <span style="color: #5454ed; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">media type="file" key="Untitled.wma" width="90" height="90" <span style="color: #5454ed; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Mary Livingston

<span style="color: #5252e5; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #5454ed; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Works Cited <span style="color: #5454ed; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. Bigelow, Barbara, Stacy A McConnell, and Linda Schmittroth, eds. //American Revolution Reference Library//. Vol. 3 ed. N. pag. //http://go.galegroup.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2011. <http://go.galegroup.com/‌ps/‌retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=gree48311&resultListType=RELATED_DOCUMENT&contentSegment=&docId=GALE|CX3411900089#58>.

<span style="color: #5454ed; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2. Davidson, James West. //America History Of Our Nation//. Beginnings Through 1877 ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Rducation Inc., 2011. Print.

<span style="color: #5454ed; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">3. Library of Congress, and James Billington. “The Boston Massacre.” //America’s Story//. America’s Library, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. <http://www.americaslibrary.gov/‌about/‌welcome.html>.

<span style="color: #5454ed; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">4.Kindig, Thomas, comp. “The Boston Massacre.” //US history//. Ed. Independence Hall Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 July 1995.