Introduction

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Lesson Plans

Curriculum Connections

Images

Websites for further study

Bibliography
Document Based Question

Pre-Revolution Politics: Boston Massacre

11th-grade students

Directions:

Look at the images and the documents in Part A, and answer the questions after each one. Then read the directions in Part B and write your essay.

Historical Context:

Boston was a major port in America in the 18th century, shipping goods back to England and British colonies in the Caribbean and India, and receiving goods for sale throughout the thirteen colonies. Merchants were Boston's leading citizens. But Boston was also a center of American protests against the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts; the protesters were led by Sam Adams and included primarily upper and middle class businessmen, artisans, merchants and lawyers.

Part A:

There are three sections (I, II, and III) to be examined and questions to answer in this part.

  1. Closely examine the two broadsides (newspaper flyers or posters--images below) depicting events in Boston on March 5, 1770. And answer questions a-c.

    2. Image #10:

    Paul Revere
    American
    Engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770

    American Antiquarian Society

    Image #26:

    W. Champney; Bufford, lithographer, 1856
    Boston Massacre, March 5th, 1770

    ©Bettmann/CORBIS

     

    1. What information can you find in the Paul Revere poster? What details are emphasized? What techniques does Paul Revere use to draw your attention to certain details? What is his point of view, or understanding of hte events in Boston on March 5?
    2. What information do you find in the second broadside by W. Champney who completed his Boston massacre lithograph in 1856, 86 years after the event? What information is similar to the first poster? What is different? What information has Champney taken from the Revere view? What might explain the differences?
    3. What point of view about the causes of the Boston Massacre is shared by both artists?
  2. The British soldiers were put on trial in Boston for the killing of five colonials on March 5, 1770. Read Testimony and Depositions from the Trial of the British Soldiers.
    1. What were the incidents that led up to the shooting?
    2. Was this a calculated event or did the tragedy occur in the heat of the moment?
    3. How does the testimony of each eyewitness support or refute the information in the two broadsides?

     

  3. Read the statements by the defense and the comments by the lead defense attorney, John Adams: Selections from the Diary and Autobiography of John Adams.
    1. Why did Adams agree to defend the British soldiers?
    2. What was the outcome of the trial?

Part B:

Using your knowledge of American history and the information you have learned by examining these documents and objects, write an essay in which you:

  • Compare the various views of the Boston Massacre as seen by the participants and onlookers.
  • Discuss the reasons why different persons saw the Boston Massacre from different perspectives.
  • Discuss the importance of the Boston Massacre in shaping the American colonists' attitude toward the British and toward their own cause.

Teacher support information
Object analysis questions to use to focus students' looking and direct their thinking:

  • What do you see?
  • What details are emphasized more than others?
  • How is the picture arranged?
  • Who are the groups of people in the picture?
  • Are the two sides of the picture, and the two groups of people, portrayed in the same way?
  • What colors are used and what emotions do the colors evoke?
  • What evidence is there that this is an accurate representation of the event?
  • What evidence is there that the artist is more interested in presenting a particular point of view than in portraying the facts of the event?

Additional documents:

Web sites:

http://www.si.umich.edu/spies/print-bostonmassacre.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h3147b.html

Criteria for Rating Student Responses