Documenting United States History

94 ChApTEr 4 | an atlantiC eMpire | period three 175 4 –18 0 0

Q. How did the soldiers stand?

A. They stood with their pieces before them to defend themselves; and as soon

as they had placed themselves, a party, about twelve in number, with sticks in

their hands, who stood in the middle of the street, gave three cheers, and imme-

diately surrounded the soldiers, and struck upon their guns with their sticks,

and passed along the front of the soldiers, towards Royal Exchange lane, striking

the soldiers’ guns as they passed; numbers were continually coming down the

street.

Frederic Kidder, History of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770; Consisting of the Narrative

of the Town, the Trial of the Soldiers: and a Historical Introduction, Containing Unpublished

Documents of John Adams, and Explanatory Notes (Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1870), 17–18.

TopIC I | Challenging an empire 95

prACTICIng historical Thinking

Identify: Summarize the testimony of this witness.

Analyze: Does this testimony paint the British soldiers in a sympathetic light?

Explain your response.

Evaluate: To what extent was the Boston Massacre a culmination of economic,

geographic, and political concerns? Explain your response with evidence from

the first six documents of this chapter and information from your textbook and

classroom lessons.

Document 4.7 “Account of the Boston Tea Party,”

Massachusetts Gazette

1773

By the early 1700s, secret Patriot organizations like the Sons of Liberty actively resisted

British economic policies throughout the colonies and encouraged fellow colonists to

boycott British goods. The Boston Tea Party, organized by the Sons of Liberty, is the most

famous of these protests and led Parliament to pass the Coercive Acts, which closed the

port of Boston and suspended the Massachusetts legislative assembly in favor of a mili-

tary governor.

“Just before the dissolution of the meeting” [discussing the new Tea Act],... a

number of brave and resolute men, dressed in the Indian manner, approached

near the door of the assembly, gave the war-whoop, which rang through the

house, and was answered by some in the galleries, but silence was commanded,

and a peaceable deportment enjoined until the dissolution. The Indians, as

they were then called, repaired to the wharf, where the ships lay that had the

tea on board, and were followed by hundreds of people, to see the event of

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