The Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre were two events that inspired the American Revolution, which later led to the independence of the thirteen colonies.
Boston Tea Party
December 16, 1773, nine o’clock at night. A group of around sixty men had dressed as native americans and snuck onto three British ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver. On these ships was about £18,000 of tea. The men dumped the tea into the water. The Boston Tea Party, it was later named.
In 1767, British Parliament passed the Townshend acts. There were four acts, three of which were soon repealed. Well, that was except for the act on tea. In 1773, Parliament passed another tea act. This was one was to help the East India Company specifically. The act made it so that all tea being sent to the colonies would be shipped by the East India Company. Agents of the company were the only ones permitted to sell tea in the colonies as well. Samuel Adams led a rebellion against the East India Company’s monopoly over tea.
Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770 a British firing squad fired at a group of men. A large crowd had gathered, taunting the British Captain, Preston, and his men. Three were killed on the spot and two were later killed because of injuries from the shots. Six more men were injured. The cause behind this was when British troops were sent to the colonies to reinforce the Townshend acts. After torments from many gangs and men, the troops finally fired.
Thomas Preston was soon tried for murder alongside his men. John Adams and Josiah Quincey were defense lawyers for the case. Robert Treat Paine was the prosecutor. Six of Preston’s men, and himself, were acquitted and found innocent. However, two of his men were found guilty and were then discharged from the army.