Massacre of Boston

The massacre of Boston ( The Boston Massacres with the the United States) is an episode of the opposition between the British colonies in North America and the the United Kingdom during second half of the 18th century, which will lead in 1775 to the American Révolution and the war of independence.

Context

Whereas the Thirteen colonies British of America are in full effervescence and that the conflict with the England threat, the British troops are stationed in cities like Boston.

In 1767, the Townshend Acts institute a tax on several goods imported in the American colonies. These laws raise the reprobation and the resistance of the American colonists. During the summer 1768, the agents of the customs confiscate a sloop pertaining to John Hancock, shown to violate the commercial payments. Crowd takes by storm the customs, obliging the agents to take refuge on an English warship wetting in the port. New English troops are sent in reinforcements to maintain the calm one in Boston. If London finally had to go into reverse in front of the boycott of the goods and to repeal the laws, the tension remained sharp, in particular in Boston. The radicals, gathered in the clandestine organization of the Fils of Freedom continue the fight against the colonial capacity and multiply the incidents against the English soldiers.

The Massacre

The March 5th 1770, during a violent demonstration, the English soldiers shoot at crowd. Five people find death in the “massacre”. Among the victims a Black appears.

Consequences

The shortly after the massacre, the royal authorities decided to transfer the troops from the center town towards the fort of Castle Island, located in the wearing of Boston, in order to calm the tension. The persons in charge of the massacre, the captain Thomas Preston and his soldiers, were considered and finally discharged. The newspapers of the city emphasize this event and make the symbol of English tyranny of it. After violences, England decides to dissolve the assemblies of the Massachusetts. This event, known under the English expression of Bloody Massacres , remained in the American memory like one of the releases of the Revolution: it is celebrated until in 1783 like “national” festival by the Patriots

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