Description:

Boston Massacre


Important 1770 Contemporary Account of Boston Massacre: "happen'd the massacre of sundry persons in Boston by the soldiery"

 

[BOSTON MASSACRE]. The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, July 16, 1770. Boston: Edes & Gill. 4 pp., 10" x 15.5"  Tears on folds and some edge tears, waterstaining; some text loss affecting nine lines on p3/4.

 

This issue includes a contemporary account of the Boston Massacre and details of tensions between Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson and the colonial assembly in its aftermath.

 

Excerpts

“short account of the dispute between the Governor and Assembly, at Boston”:

“Since Hutchinson’s administration, happen’d the massacre of sundry persons in Boston by the soldiery, which occasioned their removal from the town, so that the objection against the assembly’s doing business there was removed. Notwithstanding this, the lieutenant governor called the assembly to meet at Cambridge, informing them that for so doing he had his Majesty’s express command. The council and house of representatives have each repeatedly remonstrated against this innovation. They have shewn, that by charter and acts of assembly confirm’d by the King, they have a right to meet at Boston, where convenient buildings are erected for that purpose, and where the records are kept....” (p2/c1)

 

“The governor persisted in holding the assembly at Cambridge according to the letter of his instructions (which however he refused to shew) but puts a palpably unjust construction upon the principal part of the representation of the two houses. He concludes, with earnestly recommending to them the immediate proceeding to business; which they again solemnly refuse for the reasons before given, and pray, that if he will not adjourn them to Boston, that they may be dismissed. In answer to this, he tells them, he every day expects letters from his Majesty’s secretary of state, and thinks it probable they may contain matters of importance to the government; & therefore that it is necessary they should continue sitting some time longer, that he may have an opportunity of communicating them; so far as he may be requir’d or allow’d to do it. Thus stood matters the 15th of June.” (p2/c1-2)

 

Letter from “A Citizen of America”:

“It has ever been the good policy of the American Colonies, since the attempts that have been made to subject them to absolute despotic power, to keep up an union among themselves. Our enemies on the contrary, well knowing that it is not in the power of all the world to enslave us, while we maintain that union, have been perpetually endeavouring to set us at variance.” (p3/c1)

 

“we see thro’ it here; and we have no reason to think but that our brethren, the generality of the citizens of New-York see thro’ the covering there—if they do not as yet let the Body of them meet together in their city hall, and then speak freely to each other; and I dare say, it will not be in the power of a few cunning designing men to prevail on them to think, that any consideration but the total abolition of revenue acts calculated to destroy our liberty as well as drain us of our property, can be sufficient to induce them to purchase goods imported from the Island that would enslave us.” (p3/c1)

 

Historical Background

The Boston “Massacre” occurred on March 5, 1770, in Boston. A small group of soldiers, stationed in front of the Custom House, were taunted and attacked by a mob of several hundred citizens of Boston. When one soldier was knocked down by a thrown object, the soldiers fired into the mob killing three instantly, mortally wounding two, and wounding six others less seriously. Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson promised the crowd a fair investigation into the shootings. He also removed the soldiers to Castle William on an island in Boston harbor to reduce tensions.

 

Captain Thomas Preston and eight soldiers were arrested. On March 27, they and four civilians inside the Customs House who were alleged to have fired shots were indicted for murder. In the trial that followed in November, attorney and future president John Adams and his co-counsel Josiah Quincy Jr. defended the soldiers, six of whom were acquitted, while the other two were convicted of manslaughter and branded on their thumbs in a reduced sentence.

 

On June 14, 1769, Governor Francis Bernard had ordered the Massachusetts General Court to leave Boston and reassemble in Cambridge, after it persisted in denouncing the presence of British troops in Boston. On March 8, 1770, when Hutchinson again summoned the General Court into session just days after the Boston Massacre, he also ordered it to assemble in Cambridge, provoking a constitutional controversy that lasted more than two years. Hutchinson declared that he was merely following royal instructions, while the legislators believed he was not bound by explicit instructions and was merely harassing the assembly. When he finally returned the Court to its traditional meeting place in Boston in June 1772, it remained unclear whether the Court had won a victory or Hutchinson had successfully gained an acknowledgment of royal authority. However, the controversy itself forced both the Court and Hutchinson to consider carefully the proper relationship of the colony to the crown.

 

Depictions and reports of the event, especially a colored engraving produced by Paul Revere, strengthened colonial resolve to resist British oppression.

 

Additional Content

This issue also includes an extensive essay by “The Whisperer” indicting Lord Mansfield (1705-1793), the Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, who had “abused the laws, perverted justice, and rendered yourself justly obnoxious throughout the whole British empire.” (p1/c1-3); excerpts from two New York letters about the non-importation agreements (p2/c3-p3/c1); along with numerous notices and advertisements.

 

The Boston Gazette and Country Journal (1719-1798) was a weekly newspaper printed in Boston. Published by Benjamin Edes (1732-1803) and John Gill (1732-1785) from 1755 to 1775, and by Edes and his son thereafter, the Boston Gazette and Country Journal became one of the most powerful voices for American independence. Contributors included Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, Josiah Quincy, James Otis, Paul Revere, and Phyllis Wheatley. After the war, the newspaper opposed the adoption of the Constitution and the administration of George Washington and lost much of its influence.

 



 

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