The Boston Massacre
jueves, 10 de febrero de 2011
In early to mid 1700’s British law was the only law in the colonies. To make sure the rules were followed, the king sent British 4,000 soldier troops to be stationed in the larger colonial cities. The king said the soldiers were to protect them, but most colonists thought they were there to keep them obey the rules. In 1765, Parliament passed the Quarter that made the colonist to give housing to the soldiers. The colonists were not particularly happy with this new law, neither the soldiers because of their assignments in the new world. The soldier’s pays were poor so they decided to get other jobs apart from the one they already had. This caused problems for the colonist to find their own job. The jobs the colonist got were usually very unpleasant, like cleaning stables or burying garbage.
One night of March 5, 1770, colonists began complaining about the soldiers and they felt angry for the jobs that were taken by them. An angry mob of colonists threw snowballs and rocks to a group of soldiers standing in a public house in Boston. Although the soldiers couldn’t shot to any colonist they felt so threatened that they fired the loud mob. When peace was restored five colonists lay dead on the snow. These soldiers were arrested and charged with murder by colonial officers.
The Boston colonists were horrified with such massacre had taken place in their city. They wanted justice for what had happened in Boston. John Adams thought the colonists were not going to treat fairly in the trial. He offered himself as the attorney of the charged soldiers. He made all the soldiers except for two to dismiss all their charges. These two soldiers were branded on their thumbs so that everybody knew they had committed a crime.
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