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Matthew

Instructor Name

History and Anthropology

26 December 2019

The Blame of the Boston Massacre

The importance of the incident that occurred in the square in front of the Custom's House at Boston cannot be denied. This event was mainly responsible for starting the chain of events that had resulted in the complete ousting of the British Crown from the American Colonies. But, after all these years, it is still discussed by various historians who should be blamed for lighting the keg.

According to various historians, the British had been facing opposition from the citizens of Boston for roughly two years CITATION Yor10 \l 1033 (York). This is a highly significant statement that blames on the shoulders of the Loyalists and the British Army stationed in Boston. However, after reading numerous witness accounts of the citizens of Boston, it is quite clear that there were several street fights between the soldiers and “rope-makers” that had started to occur two days before the actual incident. Also, a day before, some rope-makers had ended up murdering some soldiers, according to some later published accounts of the citizens. This development, combined with the opposition of the citizens for two years were responsible for making the British to go over the edge. For some, these may not be such a huge reason. But, if we view the situation from the British point of view, they were losing law-and-order in the colony, and they were under severe pressure to restore peace and stability to their subjects. The accounts of the soldiers are also much more believable, seeing that two of the perpetrators were later convicted by the courts.

The question that arises from all this predicament is what would have happened had the average colonies had access to all the information as we do in these times. The sensible answer would be that most of them would have turned a blind eye and let the patriots do their thing. Why? Because the locals were firm on their stance of "No taxation without representation". This was because the recent unforgivable acts had made the life of common folk quite difficult. The average colonist had to pay a hefty amount of taxes to keep their residency in the colonies. Furthermore, the patriots were subjects to numerous strands of propaganda, which can be proved by one of the works of Paul Revere's which is known in the history books as "The Bloody Massacre". In the painting, it can clearly be seen that the Revere portrayed the patriots as innocent citizens that are taking the fire of the Redcoats while being unarmed themselves. True, both sides used the media to further their cause, yet the patriots were successful due to their effective use of propaganda, which was centered at highlighting the living conditions of the British Subjects in the colonies. These conditions furthered the patriots to such an extent that another incident called “The Boston Tea Party” occurred just three years later in the same city.

In short, the incident of the Boston Massacre is to be condemned. There should be no doubt about that. Yet, there is a possibility that this incident was engineered to serve the cause of the American Elite to gain independence from the British Crown. The American Political Elite managed to build pressure on the Crown by a series of minor incidents for over two years before forcing the British to finally light the fuse so that their interests would be served. Such tactics would later be used by the American many times in later years as proven by a wide variety of detailed accounts provided by numerous individuals CITATION Joh18 \l 1033 (Perkins). Yes, that is a tall order to establish, yet the possibility cannot be ruled out altogether.

Works Cited

BIBLIOGRAPHY Perkins, John. The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Ebury Press, 2018. Paperback.

York, Neil L. The Boston Massacre: A History with Documents. Ed. 1st. New York: Routledge, 2010.