The Bloody Massacre: What Was The Cause Of The Bloody Massacre

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The Bloody Massacre
On March 5, 1770, 60 colonists protested against our unfair taxation by the British through the Stamp Act and Sugar Act in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. These brave men stood up to the British soldiers, who unfairly shot at them, resulting a horrible, bloody massacre.

The massacre started late in the afternoon and was in response to the inequitable Townshend. Most colonists know that these laws impose unnecessary taxes on items including glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. These unfair laws were passed recently a few years ago in 1777.

In the late afternoon, 60 colonists went up to the British Custom House and objected against their unfair taxation. A small argument was started between the helpless colonists …show more content…
The Captain then spoke distinctly, “Fire, Fire!” I was then within four feet of Capt. Preston, and know him well. The soldiers fired as fast as they could one after another. I saw the mulatto [Crispus Attucks] fall, and Samuel Gray went to look at him, one of the soldiers, at a distance of about four or five yards, pointed his piece directly for the said Gray’s head and fired. Mr. Gray, after struggling, turned himself right round upon his heel and fell dead.”

After the first shot, all of the soldiers started firing at the desperate colonists and killed five colonists as well as wounding six. One of these martyrs was the slave, Crispus Attucks, who was the first colonist killed in the bloody massacre.

A few months later, on November 27, 1770, the British soldiers’ trial was conducted at the Superior Court of Judicature in Boston. John Adams defended these soldiers and convinced the judge they were not guilty of killing the colonists. However, two soldiers, Private Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Killroy, were found guilty of manslaughter and branded on the thumb. The rest of the soldiers were found innocent and were released.

After this bloody massacre, Great Britain repealed all of the Townshend Acts, except for the tax on tea, …show more content…
We should not falter in our determination to freedom and liberty. The ruthless British have been nothing but tyrants since the French and Indian War. Our opponents may argue that the British have been fair and just rulers. Some colonists say that the British have passed all of these laws while keeping our profit in mind. However, this is clearly not true. The British may have been good rulers before the French and Indian War by giving us supplies in order to colonize this land. However, they have continued to pass unfair taxes which do not profit us in any way. Instead, they have hurt other colonists financially. This can be clearly seen in the Sugar Act of 1764, wherein the number of colonial markets were reduced and there was a lack of currency for the colonists to buy goods with. This act also declined trade between the colonies and any foreign powers besides Great Britain. They hurt our economy by limiting our trading rights for their own selfish benefits. A more recent example is a set of acts which we call the Intolerable Acts. This group of acts is also known as the Coercive Acts by the British and these acts had many negative effects on us colonists, including isolating one of our cities and hurting our trade with other countries by closing the Boston Port. These acts changed the government of the colonies in order to control us even more and to benefit by making us colonists suffer. One
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