Boston Massacre 85

he Boston Massacre: Same Event, Different Viewpoints




The Boston Massacre was an incidence where five American men were killed by British troops Yet, because of various forms of media and propaganda, the ramifications and repercusssions of the Boston Massacre were felt throughout the colonies. When Paul Revere's horrific engraving of the events that occurred that day in Boston reached the doorsteps of colonists across the east coast, hundreds of americvans began to have negative emotions towards their British counterparts. As a result, Revere had accomplished his goal of widely circulating an effective piece of anti-British propaganda that would stir feelings of civic pride among the colonists and later lead to the campaign for national independence from England. On March 5, 1770 a small group of colonists were throwing snowballs and other items at a band of British soldiers. A crowd soon gathered throwing ice and making fun of the troops. Soon, the tone of the event went from cheerful teasing to anger and frustration. By many historical accounts there was a great deal of taunting that eventually lead to an escalation of hostilities. More specifcally, history tells us that a lone sentry was being seriously taunted by a group of colonists. Probably fearing himself in danger, he called for assistance from his fellow British soldiers. A group of soldiers led by Captain Thomas Preston came to the aid of the lone sentry. Captain Preston and his detachment of seven or eight men were qucikly surrounded. All attempts to calm the crowd and bring an end to the mayhem proved useless. The situtation developed into total chaos. At this point the accoutns of the event vary drastically. Apparently, a solider fired a musket into the crowd immediately followed by more shots. This action left five american men dead and several others wounded. The presence of Britsh soldiers in New Enlgand was always dreaded among Boston's citizens that were radicals against the British parliament. There was always an uneasiness between the British Royal guard and those colonists who opposed the British monarchy. It seemed as though the tension was seething beneath the surface. Paul Revere quickly took advantage of the situation and capitalized on The Boston Massacre to reinforce hatred towards the British. He also wanted to encourage colonial discontent with the crown of England. After the Massacre happened, Paul Revere immediately took action to bring to light the harsh way the British abused their power towards the colonists even though his intepretation of the Masasacre is for the most part inconsistent. He made color prints from his engraving and distributed them around Boston. The prints were very inaccurate and painted a falsified picture of the event. Historians and chroniclers alike recognized what Paul Revere did as political propaganda. In Revere's depiction of the Boston Massacre, he uses several examples of anti-British sentiment that take a visual form. Revere's engravure shows English troops standing in a straight line shooting at retreating colonists. In truth, the event was actually very chaotic. When the incident actually happened both sides were quarrelsome and riotous. Following the event, Paul Revere's print showed Captain Preston as the one who gave the command to fire upon the peaceful crowd. Many colonists were incited with anger when seeing the painting and believed that Captain Preston gave the order to shoot when, in reality, Captain Preston claimed that he was standing in front of the rifles, between his British soldiers and the crowd of rioters. The print gives the idea that the British army were in attack formation ready to attack the protesters. In fact, there was nothing organized about the episode and when the shots were fired both sides took a part the calamity. There were also several other errors in the print made by Paul Revere. The errors were done on purpose in orderto present the Americans in the most sympathetic light possible, and the Britsh in the most tyrannous. According to several historical texts, the event occurred at night in the dead of winter. Notice also that Revere's engraving shows a blue sky. Only a small moon in the left corner suggest that the riot occurred on a cold winter night. The absence of snow and ice on the street is noticeable in Revere's engraving. While Crispus Attucks was escaped African slave who was the first to be killed in the event, he shown to be a white man lying on the ground closest to the Britsh soldiers. In some ways, Paul Revere did achieve his goal of moving many former moderates to outspoken opposition to British policies. By using radicalized skillful propaganda, Revere may have created one of the strongest influences in molding a staunch anti-British public opinion among the colonies. Yet, some remained steadfast in their opinions and beliefs.