The arrival of the British troops in Boston in the year 1768 was a cause of much unrest between the relations of the Americans and the British. The American soldiers were just as disturbed as the American citizens, who were forced to be kept under control by the British rule. America being a British colony at the time was forced to follow the rules and regulation imposed by the British. The unrest that ensued came from the colonists and the ones who were loyal to the British Parliament. As much as the personal strife between the colonists and the British existed, there was also resentment amongst the people regarding the control of the British over the legislature and rules that were supposed to be followed by those who were predominant in the land and formed a majority of the population (Boston History, n.d). The lack of American representation in the Parliament and the authoritative figures fueled the tension and aggression of the colonists against the British soldiers and Parliament. The Boston massacre marked the death of five colonists and three injured ones, and it was a great event in the lives of the colonists who thought it was high time to get rid of the British. Where on the one hand, the colonist anger and fury was justified, the killing of five persons is not exactly a massacre. These people were killed by the British because they were throwing objects at the British soldiers and it was the result of a brawl that caused five unlucky people to die. Hence, the media and journalism at the time were a major public opinion shaper, and it only made the event appear as propaganda against the British and eventually resulted in the American Revolution.
Had the event not been highlighted as a massacre and a manifestation of the atrocity of the British, the outcome might have been completely different from what it is today. The media had the truth of the events either hidden or twisted in such a manner that the entire incident appeared
as an act of violence solely blaming the British side of the dispute. Going back in history, the event took place on March 5, 1770, where a group of residents belonging to Boston, gathered outside the customs house in order to protest against the British policies and their high taxation on every piece of goods arriving on American soil (History, 2016). At the time, Boston hosted around 15,000 colonists and about 4000 British soldiers in the city. The people storming to customs house included laborers, merchants, sailors and apprentices who all belonged to the working class and could not afford to pay the high taxes imposed on every item of use. It was around 9 pm at night when this angry crowd began throwing snowballs and rocks at the British soldiers guarding the place. Ordered by British Captain Thomas Preston, who was the commanding officer at the customs house, the soldiers were asked to stay alert and guard the customs house against the angry crowd (History, 2016). As the colonists kept throwing the items at the soldiers, it was when Private Hunt Montgomery was hit by the people (Boston History, n.d). He opened fire and shot at the crowd blatantly. The other soldiers followed suit and they too fired their rifles at the crowd.
The outcome of this battle resulted in the death of five colonists namely, Patrick Carr, Samuel Maverick, Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray and James Caldwell (History, 2016).Three of them were injured as well. The killings were used as a tool to ignite the fury and hatred of the colonists against the British, and their case was moved on to trial. The trial resulted in putting the British soldiers upfront and the patriots John Adams and Josiah Quincy defending the soldiers in order to favor the justice system of the colonies(History, 2016). The trial ran on for a long time, ending in December 1770, where two British soldiers were charged as guilty and as their punishment, their thumbs were branded with an M representing murder as their crime and the branding as their punishment (History, 2016).
However it was not just the Boston Massacre that became the first cause of uproar in the city; there were plenty of other events prior to this one in Boston itself that was acting as fuel to the fire. It was in 1768 that two regiments of British troops arrived in Boston (History, 2016). There were a large number of colonists in Boston who were unwilling to pay their taxes to a nation who did not let them have their say in how they wanted to pay their taxes and how much taxes were they required to pay in the first place (Boston History, n.d). Boston was now rebellious and violent against the British. Long Wharf was where the troops entered and began marching on King Street. As told above, the 4000 soldiers were not an acceptable number, and their increasing amount was disliked by the colonists residing in Boston (Boston History, n.d). This resulted in fights and violence.
There were two outbursts that occurred just a few weeks before the Boston massacre, and they resulted in the strained relations between the soldiers and the inhabitants. In February, an angry mob gathered outside a loyalist and informer’s shop. A neighbor tried to dissuade the crowds when the crowd erupted on him and pelted his home with stones and rocks. The neighbor, in defense, then fired from his window, shooting at and killing an eleven-year-old from the crowd. The riots for actual freedom became a political riot and shaped into a rally when a massive crowd attended the 11-year-old boy’s funeral (History, 2016). The animosity had already exacerbated.
The other event that took place was in March when there was a fight between a soldier and the ropewalk workers when the soldier came to them looking for work. As per expected the feelings of the group were divided as their personal and patriotic feelings for the country, the soldier was eventually joined by other soldiers, yet the ropewalkers were triumphant, and they drove the soldiers away. This conflict embarked on a new hatred in the hearts of the people for the soldiers (History, 2016).
The Boston Massacre is happening after these events became an event of much controversy in American history. It is known to become the stepping stone for the American Revolution because the entire concept of the American Revolution revolves around freedom from the British Rule in America and to establish laws and legislation according to the American philosophy, keeping in mind the likes and dislikes of the people inhabiting the land (Boston History, n.d). As soon as the trials for the soldiers were over and they were punished by branding on the thumbs rather than execution on the premises that they could read the Bible, the people’s passions cooled down, and things seemed to be getting back to normal (History, 2016). However what did not let the idea of being kept enslaved by the British die down, was the media in the form of newspapers and journals. Media is known to play a very tricky role in influencing people and making them follow what people want to hear and believe in (Boston History, n.d). It was present then just as it is present now. However, back then, media did not receive much stark criticism and whatever was published was directly imprinted on the people’s minds.
The media became the major source which highlighted the event as a ‘massacre.’ Although it is undisputedly clear that only five people were killed, and a few were injured in the protest and tussle between the soldiers and the people, the entire incident has been recorded in history as a massacre (Boston History, n.d). The name of it chosen with massacre is enough to make the public believe that something tragic befell their country, and it was all to be blamed on the British. The reason why they need to be blamed is because they were the ones in power and their soldiers were armed and ready, whereas the people only had rocks, sticks, and snowballs to show their anger (Boston History, n.d). The media, even after the hearing and punishment announced in the trial, was adamant on discussing the atrocity of the British soldiers and how they were unfair to the people.
Thus, the media elevated the status of the brawl between the soldiers and the people and termed it as a massacre by means of creating propaganda and creating hype about the issue. As per the opposing view of the Boston Massacre, there are certain propositions. The first one says that it is not technically even a massacre. According to the definition of ‘massacre’ by Merriam-Webster, the massacre is a relentless and ruthless killing of unarmed and innocent people that are a unresisting force in the face of atrocity and oppression (Boston History, n.d). Also, a massacre involves a large number of people getting killed at one time or periodically due to oppression and extremist views.
In the light of the above definition, it is clear that the Boston Massacre was nothing more than propaganda. It is one thing that the British were ruling the colonists, and they had all the say in the rule. However, the British had not initiated any kind of fight, violence or released a motion to kill the people in light of their greed for power. They were simply doing their jobs as soldiers or commanders in the country because they were assigned to do so by the throne (Boston History, n.d).The British Parliament made all the decisions regarding the taxation and rule, and the job of those deputed in Boston was to implement these taxes on the people as per their orders. The media had shaped the image of the British soldiers as the murderers of innocent Bostonians, and they needed to be driven away as per their unfair rule and murderous behavior.
One of the pieces of evidence that were followed by the media of the time was the engraving by Paul Revere, an important figure of the time, who was also a Patriot. Paul named the event, ‘The Bloody Massacre in King Street’ which set off the image of the whole event to be a tyranny of the British against the colonists (Boston History, n.d). There were several ‘facts’ that he traced down, in a poetic manner which helped him illustrate what actually happened that night. He writes that it was a line of soldiers standing armed. One officer gave the order to fire at the crowd. The British had sharp, angry expressions whereas the Americans had softer and more innocent expressions at the same time (History, 2016). Hence, automatically the British look threatening and violent. The soldiers were shown to be enjoying the misery and fear they are instilling in the hearts of the people. The people unresisting their opposition are all working people dressed as gentlemen because they had come for peace and fairness in being dealt with (Boston History, n.d).
Yet there were many things in the engraving which were not reconciling with the events usually laid down in history. For example, Revere does not mention snow, when a soldier particularly declared it was snowing that night. The time of the event was also miscalculated, which was later corrected by Revere. There is another report that Captain Preston did not order the soldiers to fire at the colonists. The sole testimony to work against him is that which could be given by the eyewitnesses in the court of law (History, 2016).
However, it was the act of colonial newspapers and public speeches published in the newspapers that showed the soldiers need to be blamed for the events of March 5th (History, 2016). Throughout history after the events of that day, there were speeches, declarations, and many public displays. The soldiers were depicted as wicked and evil who were responsible for the massacre.
The Boston Massacre served as a means of making the moderate and freedom-loving people appear as radicals and violent miscreants. The propaganda was thus used as a weapon to make the British seem like the villains in the scenario and the small incident turned into a large, dramatic event. The people began to believe that the British soldiers had committed murder of innocent people (Boston History, n.d). As it happens, one of the victim’s relatives, John Adams was representing the colonists, and he was trying to get the trial over with so that the truth would not be revealed. This, coupled with Paul Revere’s engraving, turned out to be a very false and deceptive image of the event and these could have then led to the American Revolution, instigating the colonists to rise against the British rule (Boston History, n.d).
Had the media not fueled the incident into a massacre and named it as an event so harmful for the colonists, it is guessed that the people might not have taken the incident too seriously, and there might not have been an instigation leading to the American Revolution. People might not have turned toward it so vehemently as well because usually a leading factor in revolutions is anger, hatred, need for survival and the lack of sympathy and support by rulers. These were all the factors available to the colonists against the British (Boston History, n.d). Perhaps, if the media had not spoken of the event in such harsh words and taken to the incident so harshly and protested against it for a long time, America might have been a British colony for a long time. The rhetoric employed by the papers and the writings of the people through various media publications served as a means of influencing public opinion and shaping it according to the needs of the time. Thus, a politically alerted nation began to rebel against the British and led the country to freedom from their rule (Boston History, n.d).
In conclusion, it can be rightly said the Boston Massacre was a not a massacre rather it was an event that was ignited to the level of a massacre by the use of media. Media publications of the time exaggerated the death of five people in a protest-turned-riot of the colonists against the British soldiers. The soldiers became a symbol of oppression and tyranny while the American colonists were shown as innocent and unresisting. However, this was done through media and various publications which were successful in changing the truth of the events and twisting it into an incident that was probably less violent as it seems. Yet the propaganda was successful, and it led to the riddance of the British from the Americans, and the resultant American Revolution brought a free country to the world.
Works Cited
Boston History. (n.d). “The Boston Massacre in images.” Retrieved from
http://www.bostonhistory.org/pdf/Boston%20MassacreImages.pdf
History. (2016). “The Boston Massacre.” Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-
history/the-Boston-massacre
