The Boston Massacre & the Trial that Saved the American Revolution

The event was bloodshed on the streets of Boston. The trial was for the soldiers accused of killing five men of Boston. If things had been handled differently would the American Revolution have played out the way that it did? Could the Revolution have started in 1770 rather than in 1775? What would have happened to the fight for freedom? Would it have been crushed in its infancy? These are the questions that must be asked when looking back on the importance of the trial of those English soldiers in 1770.

It was a cold March night in 1770 when disaster happened in Boston. English soldiers were on duty guarding the Customs House, and some Boston men and boys were roaming the streets looking for trouble. Eventually the Bostonians made their way to the Customs House and threw snow and sticks at the soldiers. The soldiers react and things get worse from there. Ultimately there is either a call to fire or that there is a fire, no one is really sure. What they are sure of is that the soldiers fire into the surging mob. When the smoke clears there are five dead or dying men.

What comes next is one of the most important events in the early stages of what will be the American Revolution. How Boston deals with these soldiers is going to decide how they will be dealt with by King George III and Parliament. There are some obvious choices on what to do. First there will be a trial. But where? Will it be in Boston, where the English don't think they will get a fair trial? Or, possibly, back in England, where the Bostonians think the soldiers will only get a "slap on the wrist".

It was decided that these men would have their trial held in Boston. But who would represent them? None of the Boston attorneys wanted to. They knew that this could mean that the majority of the town of Boston would be against you, including the Sons of Liberty. The one man that decided to take the case was John Adams. Adams was the cousin of the more widely known Sam Adams, a leader of the Sons of Liberty.

Adams saw that these men and America needed them to have a fair trial. Looking back on the trial later in life Adams said that the trial was "one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country." Obviously Adams was not looked upon very highly for defending the accused murderers. He was jeered by boys in the streets and had rocks thrown at his house.

One of the first things Adams asked for was that Captain Thomas Preston and his men to be tried individually. This was approved. Once the trial was under way the prosecution had nine-six depositions against the soldiers. They all said basically the same thing. These soldiers brutally attacked the people of Boston. The people of Boston had done nothing to provoke such a vicious attack. Adams went out and found other witnesses. These witnesses said that many men of Boston were out in the streets that night. They were carrying "cudgels" (clubs), and looking for English soldiers.

The next important matter for the trial was the jury. Adams made sure that the jury was made up of country people. They would not show the bias opinions that the people of Boston would. Adams would use this to his advantage. He would show the jury that the actions of those men were not the action of murder but in self-defense. He eventually got all but two men acquitted. The two that were convicted were not found guilty of murder, instead they were found guilty of manslaughter.

The significance of this trial isn't that they were acquitted. The importance of the trial was that it happened and it was fair. It showed the English that the colonies were not lawless heathens. The colonies, Massachusetts in particular, were not seen in a good light up to that point and this trial showed that they respected and followed laws.

What could have happened if the trial wasn't fair? If the soldiers were convicted of murder England's next step would probably be to move more soldier into Boston. Quell the "native", so to speak, before they get out of hand. It could have shut down the Revolution before it even went into motion. If the soldiers moved in and martial law was put into place in Boston in 1770 we would not have seen some of the other events that were needed to make this an American Revolution rather than a Massachusetts Revolution. There would not have been a Boston Tea Party, or the Intolerable Acts. Would there have been a Lexington and Concord, or Bunker Hill. All of those events helped to broaden the Revolution. It started in Boston but then spread to the countryside and eventually into the other colonies.

John Adams proved that in 1770 he saw that these men had rights that must be protected. They had the right to a fair trial. But Adams also saw this as a statement that must be made to England that America was trying to get equal and fair rights but would not step on others to gain these rights.

Resources:
Fleming, Thomas, Liberty! The American Revolution (New York, Penguin Group, 1997) 71-74

www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bostonmassacre/bostonmassacre.html