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The Unbiased Analysis Of The Boston Massacre

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The Boston Massacre is an event that will continue to live in infamy for many years to come. The events surrounding the shot heard ‘round the world will forever be clouded in mystery, however; the examination of these events is critical to a larger understanding of the British and Colonial relationship. Unfortunately, like many historical events, there is no unified story on which historians agree. The documents integrated into this essay are a brief snapshot in time that can never represent a perfect history. For the purposes of this essay, I will focus on three major historical disagreements and attempt draw a conclusion on each aspect to hopefully provide an unbiased analysis of the Boston Massacre. What caused the civil unrest that led to the Boston Massacre? Why did British troops fire on the Colonial citizens? Were Captain Preston or his men responsible for the massacre? The most highly debated subject surrounding the massacre appears to be what started the conflict. Captain Preston points out that “the arrival of his Majesty’s …show more content…

The various stories from individuals are most likely extremely biased. Although some, such as Preston’s, are sworn statements they can still have bias. Captain Preston was in a fight for his life when fighting the accusations that he was responsible for the massacre. The Boston Gazette says that the fight began between young boys and soldiers and slowly tensions rose. This is consistent with most other stories in some way. They do highlight that both sides used excessive force in their initial argument and that the crowd did eventually form to oppose the soldiers. The Boston Gazette also corroborates other accounts with regards to soldiers being targets for snowballs (Boston Gazette). For this reasons, and its least likelihood to have a bias, the Boston Gazette offers the most thorough and plausible depiction of what caused the civil unrest prior to the

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In the early 1760’s, the tension between the people in Boston and the British soldiers started to grow until in early 1770, when the two groups reached their breaking point. On March 5, 1770, a group of men started intimidating a British soldier; he soon called for assistance but eventually the crowd had grown to practically one hundred people. Captain Thomas Preston and seven other soldiers arrived, trying to calm the situation down, but to no avail. A soldier fired into the crowd followed by the other soldiers firing soon after, resulting in five people being killed. Captain Thomas Preston happened to be arrested and charged with murder.

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