Alternative View on the Event
The Boston Massacre was not really a massacre, but more like a riot. In fact only five people died.
One of the most common myths is that the BM was the event that led to the Revolutionary War. In fact, many important events led up to the massacre. It was called a massacre by the use of propaganda. It mainly started by the British trying to enforce laws.
British Soldiers were sent to America to enforce the Proclamation and to maintain order but their presence just made matter worse.
It all started March 5 by a couple of boys throwing snowballs at British soldiers. A crowd soon gathered throwing ice and making fun of them. Soon after, the British started firing wildly. Other weapons were clubs, knives, swords, and a popular weapon, your own bare hands.
The people that died are: Crispus Attacks, one of the more famous people who was an African American sailor, Samuel Gray, a worker at rope walk, James Caldwell, a mate on a American ship, Samuel Maverick, who was a young seventeen year old male, and Patrick Carr, a feather maker.
The purpose of the Boston Massacre was to try to make liberal and moderate people become radicals. It was really an accident and the radicals tried to use propaganda and turn something small into something big. The British soldiers were accused of Murder and manslaughter. To represent them was John Adams, a relative of Samuel Adams. Adams wanted the trial to get over and didn’t want the truth to come out. The Boston Massacre and misleading visual representation by Paul Revere could have been one cause of a later war.
The BM increased the hatred between the Americans and the British. The radical people tried to use this minor event as propaganda. Paul Revere and Samuel Adams were happy the few colonists died because they used it as propaganda so the colonist would get mad at the British. Whenever the word propaganda is used it means the truth is stretched