Lesson 6 - The Boston Massacre or the Incident on King Street.
During the Stamp Act 1765 crisis, Archibald McCall, a landowner loyal to Britain, was attacked by a Patriot mob in Virginia. He insisted on collecting the British tax that was placed on stamps and other documents. In reaction, a mob formed and stormed his house in Tappahannock, Virginia. They threw rocks through the windows and McCall was captured, tarred and feathered. Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture and punishment used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. This was the first recorded instance of tarring and feathering in the cause of American Independence.
More important than violent actions of the Patriot mob were the 'committees of correspondence' to coordinate their efforts and exchange information. These committees were made up of influential colonists and were responsible for communicating with other colonies and organizing protests and boycotts against British policies. The campaign against the Stamp Act was successful. People refused to pay the tax. King George's government decided to drop the Stamp Act but they replaced it with the Townshend Acts or duties which introduced taxes on imported goods such as tea, glass, paint and paper. The Townshend Duties were passed during 1767 and 1768 are named after the Chancellor of the Exchequer who proposed the program. The colonists felt this was almost as bad. In protest, they organised a boycott of British goods.
Boston in Massachusetts took a lead in these developments. It was a prosperous port with a population of over 16,000. Many British soldiers (who were known as 'Redcoats' because of the colour of their uniform) were stationed there. Relations were bad between the soldiers and the citizens of Boston. One reason for that was that the Redcoats, who were very badly paid, often took part-time jobs. They were willing to work for low wages and this cut the wages of the local people.
On 5 March 1770, a dispute broke out between a group of soldiers and some citizens. The soldiers opened fire. Five people were killed and seven were injured. This became known as the Boston massacre and passed into American folklore as an example of British cruelty.
During the Stamp Act 1765 crisis, Archibald McCall, a landowner loyal to Britain, was attacked by a Patriot mob in Virginia. He insisted on collecting the British tax that was placed on stamps and other documents. In reaction, a mob formed and stormed his house in Tappahannock, Virginia. They threw rocks through the windows and McCall was captured, tarred and feathered. Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture and punishment used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. This was the first recorded instance of tarring and feathering in the cause of American Independence.
More important than violent actions of the Patriot mob were the 'committees of correspondence' to coordinate their efforts and exchange information. These committees were made up of influential colonists and were responsible for communicating with other colonies and organizing protests and boycotts against British policies. The campaign against the Stamp Act was successful. People refused to pay the tax. King George's government decided to drop the Stamp Act but they replaced it with the Townshend Acts or duties which introduced taxes on imported goods such as tea, glass, paint and paper. The Townshend Duties were passed during 1767 and 1768 are named after the Chancellor of the Exchequer who proposed the program. The colonists felt this was almost as bad. In protest, they organised a boycott of British goods.
Boston in Massachusetts took a lead in these developments. It was a prosperous port with a population of over 16,000. Many British soldiers (who were known as 'Redcoats' because of the colour of their uniform) were stationed there. Relations were bad between the soldiers and the citizens of Boston. One reason for that was that the Redcoats, who were very badly paid, often took part-time jobs. They were willing to work for low wages and this cut the wages of the local people.
On 5 March 1770, a dispute broke out between a group of soldiers and some citizens. The soldiers opened fire. Five people were killed and seven were injured. This became known as the Boston massacre and passed into American folklore as an example of British cruelty.
Activity - Consider the four written accounts of the events of 5th March 1770.
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On the importance of understanding who started it see this.
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1. Are there any similarities in the four versions of events? Do the authors agree on anything? Explain your answer using examples from the sources.
2. What are the most important differences between the accounts? What reasons can you suggest to explain those differences? 3. What would a historian have to do in order to produce a 'reliable' account of the events 5th March 1770? 4. Now consider the images of the 'Boston Massacre'. Many of the images are very similar, does this mean that they are more accurate than the written accounts? Why can images like this be of particular value for people investigating the past? |
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So what does make a source useful? Below the diagram for the lesson and (right) a link to some serious thinking about utility.
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