“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”~ Thomas Paine On this day in Revolutionary War History..... The Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 placing taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea was applied with the design of raising £40,000 a year for the administration of the colonies. The result was the resurrection of colonial hostilities already inflamed by the Sugar Act, and Currency Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act and Quartering Act of 1765 Reaction assumed revolutionary proportions in Boston when in the summer of 1768 customs officials impounded a sloop owned by John Hancock for violations of the trade regulations. Crowds mobbed the customs office, forcing the officials to retire to a British Warship in the Harbor. In response, 4,000 British Troops were dispatched to occupy Boston. When the occupation began in October 1768, Bostonians offered no resistance. They instead established non-importation agreements that quickly spread throughout the colonies. British trade soon dried up and the powerful merchants of Britain once again interceded on behalf of the colonies. By March of 1770, the presence of the British Occupation troops in the city of Boston was increasingly unwelcome. In the early evening of March 5, a detachment of British Soldiers guarding the customs house under the command of Captain Thomas Preston became involved in a street fight with a crowd of approximately 50 Bostonians hurling insults, snowballs, stones & sticks. Feeling their safety threatened by the growing mob, the British soldiers fired into the crowd, killing 3 outright, and wounding 8, two of whom would later die from their injuries. All 5 victims of what would become known as The Boston Massacre, Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr, were buried at Granary Burying Ground in Boston. Nine British soldiers, including Captain Preston were charged with murder resulting from the incident. At the trial(s), Samuel Quincy and Robert Treat Paine would be the attorneys for the prosecution. Because of the virulent anti-British sentiment in Boston, most lawyers in the city would not agree to defend the soldiers, believing it would be the end of their legal careers, but one young attorney courageously took the case to ensure that justice was served. John Adams, an outspoken critic of the British occupation, recognized the importance of a fair trial for the accused and agreed to represent them. Adams later wrote that he risked infamy and even death, and incurred much popular suspicion and prejudice, for the sense of duty he felt to offer the British soldiers an adequate defense. Of his decision to represent the British soldiers, Adams wrote in his diary: The part I took in defense of Captain Preston and the soldiers, procured me anxiety, and obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country. Judgment of death against those soldiers would have been as foul a stain upon this country as the executions of the Quakers or witches, anciently.” The trial of Captain Preston lasted from October 24, 1770 to October 30, 1770 and ended with his acquittal. The second trial, for the enlisted ranks began on November 27, 1770 and ended on December 14, 1770, with six men being acquitted and two others found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to be branded with an “m” on their thumbs. The three years that followed the Boston Massacre passed quietly without any major confrontation between the British and Bostonians until the Tea Party of December 1773, another in a series of events that would eventually see Patriots rise in armed rebellion throughout the colonies. The Bloody Massacre in King Street ~ an engraving by Paul Revere
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 09:20:02 +0000
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