The Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre was one of the many events that triggered the American Revolution. During the evening of March 5, 1770, rowdy crowds and British soldiers gathered outside of the Boston customs house. There were two regiments in Boston around that time. It started when some colonists began shouting insults at the British. In time, they began to throw snowballs and oyster shells. Then, they soldiers panicked and fired their muskets into the crowd. When the smoke from the muskets cleared, five people lay dead or dying. Crispus Attucks, a free African American sailor who was very active in the Sons of Liberty was one of the first to die. The Sons of Liberty were a group of "rebels," as they were called by the British soldiers, who organized the Colonists against the British. They organized the Boston Tea Party and other events that riled the Colonists and preceded the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre was an important event in history because it was one of the things that preceded and initiated the American Revolution. It made the British Colonists angry because the soldiers had fired on unarmed Colonists. The soldiers were tried in Boston. John Adams, who later became president, agreed to defend them. This was astonishing to some of the Colonists who were so mad that they thought that these soldiers had done something wrong and should be punished severely for it. John Adams' reason was that he believed that everyone should have a fair trial, no matter who they were, and what they had done. He also wanted to show that the Colonists were fair in dealing with everyone from everywhere, even in a time of conflict.