Podcast Transcript:
Hi and welcome to today's episode of quick history podcasts! Today we're going to be doing a quick overview of what happened at the Boston Massacre to help support our learning tomorrow in class. Many of you have probably heard of the Boston Massacre and probably know a little bit of this background knowledge.
Before we get into what happened at the Boston Massacre, it might be a good idea to learn a little bit more about the tensions that built up to this event. The British parliament had started to impose many taxes on the colonists that they felt to be unfair. One of these taxes was the Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed all of the colonies paper documents. After the Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian War, the British felt that it was their right to tax the colonies to recuperate their debts from the war, since, after all, the war took place in America and benefitted the colonists. However, many of the colonists felt that the tax was unfair especially because they had no representation in parliament. Furthermore, the Stamp Act stated that they didn't need a trial by jury, since the British felt that American juries were particularly lax. To the colonists, this felt like they were depriving them of their freedoms.
The Stamp Act wasn’t the only tax on the American colonists that they found to be unjust. In 1767 the British Parliament enacted the Townsend Acts, which imposed taxes on items, such as tea, paper, and glass, imported from Britain to the colonies. These taxes would then be used to pay government officials that were in the colony, such as governors and judges. The colonists recognized that this would mean that they would be loyal to the British Crown rather than the American people. Many American people responded by protesting and boycotting the goods. Everything came to a head and 1769 when British troops were sent to Boston put down the protests. This leads to what happened at the Boston Massacre as tensions grew higher.
On the night of March 5th of 1770, Private Hugh White was guarding the customs house in Boston, where the Kings money was stored. Protesters, who called themselves Patriots, began to gather to mock and threaten the soldier. As stated previously, many of these Patriots were angry that the soldiers were sent to America as they were sent to enforce unpopular taxes. White hit a protester with his bayonet in an attempt to get them to back off.
Rather than scaring them off, this prompted many colonists started to throw objects at him, such as sticks and snowballs. The crowd stared to grow bigger and White called for reinforcements.
A private, Hugh Montgomery, was the first to fire a shot into the crowd after being hit with one of these objects, though it is debated whether this was accidental or not. The other soldiers joined in and 5 colonists were killed and six were injured.
The British soldiers were arrested and put on trial and two were found guilty of manslaughter. The Boston Massacre had a huge impact on British and American relations moving forward and was a huge incentive for Patriots to continue to relay anti-British sentiment. In class tomorrow we'll talk a little bit more about what this anti-British sentiment led to and how the Boston Massacre further affected the beginning of the American Revolution.
For sources and more information, as always, please look in the description or on the website. Be ready with this information Tomorrow since, as I stated, we will delve deeper into the impacts The Boston Massacre had.
Sources and more information: