The American Revolution: Boston Massacre (1770)

"When Paul Revere first began selling his color prints of "The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street" in Boston, he was doing what any like-minded patriot with his talents in 1770 would have done."

"Although it has been over two centuries since the moonlit March night in 1770 when British soldiers killed five Bostonians on King Street, people still debate responsibility for the Boston Massacre. Does the blame rest with the crowd of Bostonians who hurled insults, snowballs, oyster shells, and other objects at the soldiers, or does the blame rest with an overreacting military that violated laws of the colony that prohibited firing at civilians? Whatever side one takes in the debate, all can agree that the Boston Massacre stands as a significant landmark on the road to the American Revolution."
*Look at the topic links on the right hand side to primary source documents.

"In the eighteenth century, Great Britain had colonies all over the world. It was expensive to maintain these colonies, however, especially in the midst of the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), [...]"

"Indictment and Arraignment in the Boston Massacre Trials Jonathan Sewall, William Taylor, and Samuel Winthrop 1770 Sewall, Jonathan, William Taylor, and Samuel Winthrop. 'Indictment and Arraignment of Preston, the Soldiers, [...]"

"Newspaper Illustration of the Boston Massacre Paul Revere 1770 Revere, Paul. Illustration in (March 12, 1770)."

Famous images of the Boston Massacre for students to analyse

"The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers fired into a crowd on King Street in Boston. This is the Boston Gazette's obituary of four of the men who died: Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks. An additional victim, Patrick Carr, died several days later."

"Here is the complete text of the account of the Boston Massacre as reported in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal on Monday, March 12, 1770."

"If you were living in Boston at the time, this is what you would have read in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal in its edition of Monday, March 12, 1770."
Scroll down to access pages 2-3 of the Boston Gazette.

"Captain Thomas Preston was commander of the British squad that evening [March 5, 1770]. He, along with the other members of the squad, was tried for murder in a Boston Court. In the following trial testimony, Captain Peterson describes the events of that evening."

"The Law Library of Congress has copies of reports and transcripts of the court proceedings published in 1770, 1807, and 1824, as well as a history of the Boston Massacre "consisting of the narrative of the town, the trial of the soldiers, and a historical introduction, containing unpublished documents of John Adams, and explanatory notes," published one hundred years later in 1870. "