Boston Massacre 1770 -> revolution

Puritanism was a British Christian faith originating in the early C17th. The ideals which separated Puritans from other Christ­ians in­cluded their strict belief in predestination i.e that God already chose those who would be saved, or not. When William Laud became the Archbishop of Canter­bury in 1633, the new beliefs he brought were unacceptable to Purit­ans who sought to purify the Church from all Catholic influence. Laud’s new beliefs included individual acceptance or rej­ection of God's grace, tol­eration for many religious beliefs, and the incorpor­ation of High Church symbols.

Early in the C17th, Puritans were leaving Europe for the Am­erican colonies, centred in New England and soon the Puritans were able to control most of the colonies' activity there. Each war or colonial expansion left Britain’s finances struggling, so new taxes were levied to bolster the treasury. Alas for Boston, British King George III and Parliam­ent taxed the col­onies with­out repr­es­ent­ation. So when res­is­t­ance emer­g­ed, locals gat­hered at Bos­ton’s Old Meeting House to chal­len­ge British rule.

  British infantry men

The British needed facilities. Boston Common was bought in 1634 as a militia training field and later British soldiers used the Boston Common as their camp. And a brick, two storey Faneuil Hall was rebuilt in Georgian style in 1763. Its first floor served as a market place and the second floor contained a large hall used for meetings.

   

Regiments of British troops occupied Boston in Sept 1768, aft­er citizens had resisted British taxes levied on goods like tea and paper to pay for the costly French and Indian War. Sent to enforce these taxes and keep the peace, the 1000 soldiers were heav­ily resented by Bostonians as an affront to their local aut­onomy. From the beginning of the occupation, conflicts periodically flared up between British soldiers and townspeople, and by early 1770, fights had become regul­ar. The presence of Irish and black British soldiers occupying Boston further inflamed white, Prot­estant Boston­ians, many of whom held slaves and had fought against French Cathol­ics in the French and Indian War.

On 5th March 1770, clashes between locals and soldiers broke out across Boston. This Boston Massac­re was a turning-point in relations between Americans and British authorit­ies. British Capt Thomas Preston soon arrived at the scene with six grenadiers and formed a semicircle in front of the square, fully armed. And as the church bells pealed, more citizens filled the streets to join in and hurled rubbish at the British. Suddenly a projectile hit the rifle of one grenadier Private Hugh White, causing him to mis­takenly discharge his musk­et. As a crowd began to gather, shouting insults and throwing snowballs, White called for reinforcements. Other grenadiers shot into the crowd as people ran for cover but 5 towns­­people were killed.

  

The Boston Massacre
Old State House in the background.
Engraved by Paul Revere and published in 1770

After the shooting, Capt Preston ordered his soldiers to re­treat, fearing retribution. The crowd continued to grow, with some Bostonians attending to the wounded and others brought muskets antic­ipating a wider fight. Preston soon ord­ered much of the 29th Regiment to the Custom House.

Gov Thomas Hutchinson, senior British administ­rator in Mass­ach­usetts Bay, feared that endless thousands of colon­ists would flood into Bos­ton to expel the British regiments from town. Indeed import­ant Bos­tonians demanded the troops’ removal immediately. Seeking to pacify the locals, Hutchinson arrest­ed Capt Preston and the grenadiers, and demanded a trial.

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Old State House, Boston

The cobblestone ring in front marks the site of the massacre

In the days after the event, 5,000+ people were led by Samuel Adams, leader of the fight against British colonial rule, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and cousin of  later President John Adams. Each year from 1771-5, large meet­ings were held at Old South to com­m­emorate the Massacre, with rousing patriotic speeches. Samuel Adams and other revol­ut­ionary colonists protested in particular in the Taxation without Represent­at­ion debate.  And the site of the massacre was marked by a cobblestone ring on the traffic island in front of the Old State House (see photo). Visitor centres in Concord and Lexington explain where the Brit­ish re­treated under the fire of col­onial militiamen. 

Word of the massacre was unhappily received in Lon­don. Am­er­ica-sup­port­ers in Parliament expres­sed a minority view when they urged the with­drawal of soldiers from Bos­t­on, but the oppos­ite occurred - more sold­iers were sent to the mutinous colonies. Parliament hoped that more British aggression would succeed.

  

Paul Revere silversmith, engraver, industrialist and patriot
Painted by John Singleton Copley, 1768

When the fin­al negotiations failed, Samuel Adams gave the signal that start­ed the Boston Tea Party Dec 1773. The Sons of Lib­erty led the way, dump­ing hundreds of chests of tea into Griff­in's Wharf harb­our. To punish the locals for the Tea Party, Br­it­ish soldiers destroyed the pews and pulpit in Old South. When tensions began to rise again in 1773 and 1774, Bostonians responded more forcibly than in 1770.

Paul Revere’s wooden house, where he lived from 1770-1800, was built in North Square Boston. Here he did his famous pat­riotic night ride, to warn the Lexington and Concord residents of the Brit­ish Red­coats. Pat­riot's Day is cele­brated in the state to remember those events. With its huge front gate, the Granary Burying Ground was the site for notable Revolut­ion­ary people, including 3 signers of the Declaration of Independence: John Han­c­ock, Robert Treat Paine and Samuel Adams. Also Paul Revere, Peter Fan­euil and the Boston Massacre victims.

The grenadiers stood trial in Boston, well defended by future Pres John Adams. Only two of the soldiers were found guilty, and both eventually received light punishments. Thus the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party prov­ided two of the issues that sparked revolut­ion­ary feelings and solidified the threat of British military occ­upat­ion in Bostonians’ minds.

British forc­es actually arrived in Boston in May 1775. In June, col­onial sold­iers were sent onto the Charlestown Peninsula to oc­cupy Bun­ker Hill. This became the first major battle of the American Rev­olut­ion (1775–1783), reinforcing local desire for indep­endence from the British crown.