The Boston Massacre was the 1770 confrontation in Boston that became a powerful symbol of colonial resistance to British rule.
On March 5, 1770, British soldiers fired into a crowd on King Street in Boston after an escalating dispute. Five colonists were killed, including Crispus Attucks, and several others were wounded. The incident followed years of tension over British troops stationed in the city and Parliament’s taxation policies.
Patriot leaders quickly used the event to criticize British military occupation. Paul Revere produced a widely circulated engraving based partly on an earlier image by Henry Pelham. Its dramatic presentation helped shape public opinion, even though it did not show every detail of the confused confrontation accurately.
The soldiers were defended in court by John Adams, who argued that they deserved a fair trial. Six soldiers were acquitted, while two were convicted of manslaughter and received reduced punishment. The Boston Massacre was not the same event as the Boston Tea Party of 1773, which involved the destruction of tea shipments in protest against taxation.