The Boston Massacre trials
The Boston Massacre Trials
Boston Massacre considered the real beginning of the American Revolution, the first shots heard around the world. It took place in Boston, Massachusetts, in March, 1770 when Captain Thomas Preston, Corporal William Wemms, and seven British soldiers confronted a crowd which attacked them with cudgel, ice balls, and other makeshift weapons. The soldiers formed a line and loaded their guns, warning the crowd to disperse. A soldier fired a musket into the crowd, immediately followed by more shots they heard someone shouting “fire.” five men, including a black man named Crispus Attucks, were killed on the spot; two more were wounded and later died.
Two trials were held, the first of the commanding officer, the second of the soldiers. Captain Preston and Corporal William along with six soldiers were acquitted; two privates were convicted of manslaughter, branded on their thumbs, and taken out of the army. Although, neither side was satisfied with the verdict, these trials were models of civility and due process, conducted professionally and intelligently by all the lawyers. The British legal system, administered by colonial American, was able to turn a potentially explosive incident into a civics lesson about the rule of law.
John Adams successfully defended Captain Preston and his soldiers. He believed that the rule of law should be predominant and that the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre deserved a fair trial. He defended them through principle rather than sympathy for their cause; argued that “we are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer.”
Adams played the "race card" by telling the all-white jury that Crispus Attucks was the one to blame for the confrontation, and that Crispus's mad behavior attributed to terrifying the soldiers. Crispus formed unlawful assembly, according to Adams, and led this army with their clubs in order to
Boston Massacre considered the real beginning of the American Revolution, the first shots heard around the world. It took place in Boston, Massachusetts, in March, 1770 when Captain Thomas Preston, Corporal William Wemms, and seven British soldiers confronted a crowd which attacked them with cudgel, ice balls, and other makeshift weapons. The soldiers formed a line and loaded their guns, warning the crowd to disperse. A soldier fired a musket into the crowd, immediately followed by more shots they heard someone shouting “fire.” five men, including a black man named Crispus Attucks, were killed on the spot; two more were wounded and later died.
Two trials were held, the first of the commanding officer, the second of the soldiers. Captain Preston and Corporal William along with six soldiers were acquitted; two privates were convicted of manslaughter, branded on their thumbs, and taken out of the army. Although, neither side was satisfied with the verdict, these trials were models of civility and due process, conducted professionally and intelligently by all the lawyers. The British legal system, administered by colonial American, was able to turn a potentially explosive incident into a civics lesson about the rule of law.
John Adams successfully defended Captain Preston and his soldiers. He believed that the rule of law should be predominant and that the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre deserved a fair trial. He defended them through principle rather than sympathy for their cause; argued that “we are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer.”
Adams played the "race card" by telling the all-white jury that Crispus Attucks was the one to blame for the confrontation, and that Crispus's mad behavior attributed to terrifying the soldiers. Crispus formed unlawful assembly, according to Adams, and led this army with their clubs in order to