THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR ~ LESSON 4 Events in Boston
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The Boston Massacre
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The first to be killed was Crispus Attucks, a sailor and rope-maker. Attucks’s father was an enslaved African and mother was a member of the Wampanoag tribe. Attucks ignored that he might be arrested and returned to slavery in his anger. He was upset that the growing number of British troops could cause the pay of seamen to become even less than their already low wage. Later this event was called the Boston Massacre.
Two of the British soldiers were found guilty of a crime in this event. They were punished by having their thumbs burned with a hot branding iron and released.
Between 1770 and 1773 there were only a few acts of violence in the colonies. Some British tax boats were burned. The British repealed many of the taxes, but not the tax on tea.
The Boston Tea Party
In 1773 the British told the British East India Company it could send tea to America without paying the taxes. All other tea traders still had to pay a tax. The Americans refused to buy any tea and refused to unload the tea from the British ships in the American ports.
About 50 men from the Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawk Indians. They boarded a tea ship in Boston Harbor. These men then threw 342 chests tea valued at $75,000 into the water. One of these men was Paul Revere. This event became known as the Boston Tea Party. Many people say this was the most important event that led to the start of the war between the colonies and the British.
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