The Boston Massacre is termed to be the Revolutionary War’s first combat. On March 5, 1770, a deadly occurrence occurred. Five colonists died as a direct result of the massacre. British soldiers allocated at the Boston town in Massachusetts were poorly compensated and this forced them to compete for jobs with the locals in their off time. The inhabitants perceived the British soldiers as potential tyrants, job contenders, and social perpetrators.[1] A rebellious anti-British fever afflicted the townsfolk. The locals hated the British soldiers as they were sent to Boston to reinforce order.
The verdict of the innocent in the trial of Thomas Preston was not justified as the four people lost their lives. The court ruled that there was no admissible evidence to judge whether Captain Preston gave the order to fire, although some witnesses confessed that he gave the order to the soldiers. Additionally, the soldiers noted they heard “fire” but were unsure whether it was from the captain or the rioters. The first shoot seems uncalled for; however, the ensuing shootings looked like the soldiers had been given the leeway to fire. The soldiers violated the province law, which barred the military from shooting civilians without a magistrate order.
Captain Preston and the British soldiers implicated in the Boston Massacre should have been convicted guilty and punished for their actions. The killings of the five people were unwarranted and unnecessary. At the time of the gunshots, all five guys were unarmed. The harassment from the crowd did not warrant the soldiers to open fire, and they would have reacted differently, such as arresting the protester who attacked one of the soldiers. The British troops would have been found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in today’s justice system. According to Adams, the executions were justifiable, who blamed the violence on immigrants Crispus Attucks and Patrick Carr.
On the day of the incident, a single British soldier stood guard at the despised customs house on King Street, which housed the imperial government’s money. A mob threw snowballs and stones at the soldier, compelling him to ask for assistance. Captain Thomas Preston led a group of eight soldiers to his help. The crowd’s hostility grew until one soldier accidentally discharged his musket, prompting other troops to fire their guns. Crispus Attacks, an African-American and American Indian marine worker, was most likely the first victim. Some even threatened captain Preston and reminded him he would be answerable if his soldiers fired at the crowd. They also asked him if the muskets were loaded. Benjamin Burdick highlights that he would have used his sword to cut off the head of a soldier who had pushed his Bayonet against him.
The eight soldiers were confronted by a crowd of over a hundred people throwing bricks, physically assaulting them with punches and clubs. The crowd continually refused to heed Captain Preston’s legal order to disperse, and their actions became significantly uncontrollable. From the mounting tensions from the rowdy crowds, the soldiers were left with no choice but rather to fire to restore order and disperse the rioters. American propaganda, especially that spread by Adams and Revere, fails to mention that the troops eventually felt that they were in danger of serious injury and fired in self-defense and deliberately shot those they identified as the ring leaders inciting the unlawful actions of the mob.
The mob’s offences of throwing snowballs, clubs, bricks, and insults were not severe enough to warrant capital punishment. The troops fatally shot and killed the five guys. The military had repeatedly inflamed the citizens and were eager for a battle. During the winter of 1769, British troops and townspeople battled and clashed. Soldiers even opened fire in the streets, jeopardizing a large number of people’s lives. With their artillery and muskets, the troops regularly injured civilians. The countless incidents of terrible behavior among the soldiers convinced us early on that the soldiers were not deployed here to serve the municipality or province and that we could expect nothing positive from such police officers.
Many additional atrocities were committed by the troops deployed in Boston. From the atrocity of the Boston Massacre, either the troops should have been held responsible for shooting without orders, or Preston should have been held responsible for issuing the order to fire. The eight men said they were acting on Preston’s orders and that they should all be prosecuted at the same time. Some of the troops said they heard captain Preston shoot and were obeying instructions, implying Preston was to blame. Three black witnesses also testified that they heard Preston issue a firing order. On the other hand, a merchant said he had not heard an order. In any case, the troops and Preston should have been held responsible.
Governor Hutchinson took the troops into custody to appease the masses and assured the public the law would take its course. Josiah Quincy and John Adams represented Captain Preston and the eight soldiers. In September, the soldiers and captain Preston were put on trial and pleaded not guilty. After separate trials, just two of the eight men and Preston were found guilty. The other accused were found not guilty, but the two found guilty were branded on the hand and released, a lenient sentence for murder. Preston was acquitted of all charges. Adams was able to demonstrate that the soldiers fired for self-defense purposes. The soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre were judged not guilty. Adam established that the troops were acting in self-defense. Governor Hutchinson protected the colonist from being persecuted, and the court trials were severally delayed. Such delays were enacted to diminish the tension in Boston and blindfold the public on the implantation of the law.
Adams encountered tactics that would currently be regarded as a matter of professional conduct in preparation for the trials, where the captain was to be prosecuted separately from the troops. Captain Preston had not committed any murders. He was charged with instructing his soldiers to shoot without enough provocation. He might best defend himself by denying that he gave the order to shoot. On the other hand, the officers would have to contend that they shot since the captain directed it and that if they had defied, they would have faced military discipline. In today’s courts, the conflicting interests of the two groups of litigants would bar Adams from defending both the captain and the troops. Unfortunately, because the standards were less stringent at the time, Adams did not resign.
Captain Thomas Preston testified about the killings during the prosecution. Captain Preston remembers the uproar outside the Customs House. He claims that illegal threats were made against British personnel. He also claims that some colonists carried sticks and other weapons that had previously been used to kill British officials. Captain Thomas Preston allegedly gave instructions to the eight other police officers to start firing into the gathering because the officer believed the colonists would murder him. As a result, on March 5, 1770, the 5 Boston colonists were killed. However, from the picture, the soldiers are paraded in a straight line and holding their muskets organized, ready for the task.
A month later, the eight soldiers were put on trial. There was no one disputing the fact that five people were killed. The trial had to show that all eight officers were there throughout the killing and that each of them had discharged his rifle. The onus of proof would then pass to the defense, who would have to show that the shootings were provoked for the killings to be justified as self-defense. The witnesses’ evidence was comparable to that given at Preston’s conviction.
On the other hand, the attention was on the uproar, mocking, and intimidation. According to witnesses, ice balls and bits of sticks were hurled at the soldiers. Other eyewitnesses were certain that two officers had discharged their munitions, but no one testified about the other six soldiers. The jurors clearly believed the troops were agitated, but they should have delayed a little longer before shooting. The two soldiers who fired were convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, while the other six were found innocent on all accounts. They pleaded “the privilege of the clergy,” a practice that abridge their penalty from incarceration to stamping on the right thumb. From the sources, there was quantifiable evidence that captain Preston ordered the soldiers to fire and the jury could have further critiqued the evidence to held the culprit liable for the brutal killings and injured victims.
If the trials were fair, the authorities would have investigated the tragedy’s root cause and held the culprits responsibly. British officer Captain Goldfinch was confronted in the street by Edward Garrick, a wig-maker’s apprentice. The event shows the barbaric acts of the British soldiers, which angered the public and pushed for the American revolution. The British soldiers were involved in numerous unethical evidence and went unpunished, an aspect that escalated their hatred from the public. If the soldier had paid Garrick, the Massacre could not ensue.
Work Cited
John Adams, “Summation of John Adams,” Famous American Trials: The Boston Massacre, http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bostonmassacre/adamssummation. (4 September 2000).
[1] John Adams, “An Account,” Famous American Trials: The Boston Massacre, https://famous-trials.com/massacre. (4 September 2000).
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