Paul Revere, " The Boston Massacre" Engraving and etching, hand colored, 1770.Boston Massacre:

The Boston Massacre is the event that is considered the starting point of the American Revolution. With an abundance of British soldiers patrolling and regulating Boston, a hot spot for resistance against British authority in general and the Townshend Acts in particular, tensions hit a high point on March 5, 1770 when brawls between the civilians and soldiers broke out. Ultimately this fight led to the firing of a soldier’s musket and the death of three civilians, including Crispus Attucks, an African American fugitive that worked on a whaling ship.

Although there are varying stories about how the massacre started it can be linked to the rising tensions and ignorance of a British soldier who walked into a pub and asked about local employment. Since there was great resentment towards the British for their acts and laws, this request was insulting to those in the pub. This fatal incident on top of with other similar ones in previous years escalated to the citizens pelting British soldiers outside of the Boston Customs House with snowballs. Attucks and others who were at the pub when the commotion started decided to join the others but brought clubs along. Some say Attucks attacked a soldier while others said he just had one with him. He was quoted as saying however, “ the way to get rid of these soldiers is to attack the main-guard. Strike at the root: this is the nest.” Either way, he was shot twice and became the first victim of the American Revolution.

Sources: Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Horton. Slavery and the Making of America. New York: Oxford, 2006. 47-48.