History Essay: The Boston Massacre and Early American History Overview

This essay delves into the Boston Massacre, a critical event in American history that significantly contributed to the American Revolution. The essay meticulously examines the incident that occurred on March 5, 1770, on King Street, where British soldiers fired on a crowd, resulting in multiple fatalities. It explores the background of the incident, highlighting the oppressive colonial policies, such as the Townshend Act, which fueled discontent among the colonists. Furthermore, the essay analyzes the aftermath of the massacre, including investigations, arrests, and the rise of revolutionary zeal. The essay broadens its scope to cover other important historical events, including the Colombian Exchange, the role of Conquistadors, indentured servitude, King Philip's War, the Stono Rebellion, the Great Awakening, mercantilism, Salutary Neglect, the Protestant Reformation, and Bacon's Rebellion, providing a comprehensive overview of key aspects of colonial America. The essay uses scholarly sources to support its analysis, offering a well-rounded perspective on the period.

Running head: HISTORY
HISTORY
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Topic 1
Essay- Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was one of the events that caused the ignition of the great
revolution in America that changed the course of history of America. The incident took place in
5th March 1770 in the King Street where a few British Army soldiers who were under attack fired
at the crowd and about 5 people died because of the incident (Novick). This particular incident
was one of the reasons that patriotic zeal was born among the people of America who started to
protest against the colonial power.
Before this particular incident happened the British government in America had instituted
several taxes on various commodities like paint, glass, tea, paper and similar other daily need
articles. These were all clubbed under the Townshend Act. These laws violated the basic rights
of the people. The incident of the Boston Massacre became a cause of the fire of rebellion to start
all over the United States (Messer). The massacre which is also known as the “Incident on King
Street” was used by the various nationalists and patriots to portray the British rule in a negative
light and to show the real nature of colonialism in the nation.
The 5 victims of the incident who were killed were Crispus Attucks, James Caldwell,
Patrick Carr, Samuel Gray, and Samuel Maverick. As a background of the incident it can be
stated that there were already a few sparse incidents of clashes among the normal people and
soldiers within the state. Boston was infamous in the administrative circle for being a fertile land
for the revolutionaries. There were already alarm letters about the growth of revolution in the
state to the then Governor Francis Bernerd, who had initiated increase in the military activities in
the region.

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As the aftermath of the incident it can be stated that investigation was initiated and arrests
were made from both sides constituting of the normal civilians and the army men. 8 soldiers
were arrested for shooting on the civilians and due proceedings were taken to the court (Shi,
David and George). However damage was made and the revolutionary zeal among the people
could not be stopped who perceived the colonial government as an enemy now and wanted this
government to be uprooted as soon as possible. A battle of propaganda was started between the
nationalists and the government supporters.
Topic 2
Colombian Exchange Conquistadors
Conquistadors were the group of soldiers and the various explorers of the Portuguese and
the Spanish Empire. The age of discovery was the time when the Conquistadors were engaged in
exploring various regions of the newly discovered lands. Among them Hernan Cortes was the
most famous. The Colombian exchange was the exchange of “plants, animals, culture, human
populations, technology, and ideas” between the Old world and the Americas.
Indentured Servants King Philip’s War
The indentured servants during the period of colonization were all the men and women
who signed contracts to remain as servants for a certain number of years or a particular period of
time or more precisely years for which they were to serve the slavery.
King Philip’s war was an armed conflict among the colonized inhabitants of the New
England of North America and the administration (DeLucia). Amid King Philip's War, the

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settlers formalized and developed these examples of oppression, with deplorable outcomes for
Native American people group in the locale.
Stono Rebellion Great Awakening
The Stono Rebellion was the biggest slave revolt in British North America. It started on
Sunday, September 9, 1739, at the point when a gathering of around 20 slaves, driven by a slave
named "Jemmy," broke into Hutchenson's store close to the Stono River, in St. Paul's ward
southwest of Charleston. Subsequent to decapitating two vendors and seizing weapons at the
store, the dissident band walked southward toward Florida, where they anticipated that would
discover flexibility among the Spanish at St. Augustine, who had guaranteed freedom to dark
outlaws from Carolina.
Mercantilism Salutary Neglect
Salutary Neglect was Britain's informal strategy, started by head administrator Robert
Walpole , to loosen up the implementation of strict directions, especially exchange laws, forced
on the American settlements late in the seventeenth and from the beginning of the eighteenth
hundreds of years. After years of Salutary Neglect Britain finally allowed the colonies to trade
among themselves.
Protestant Reformation Bacon’s Rebellion
The Bacons rebellion which took place in the 1676 by the citizens of the Virginia against
the governor called William Berkeley (Smith). The various dismissive policies of the colonial
government was the main reason behind the rebellion. The protestant reformation was brought
by leaders like Martin Luther, John Calvin and others.

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Reference:
DeLucia, Christine M. Memory Lands: King Philip’s War and the Place of Violence in the
Northeast. Yale University Press, 2018.
Messer, Peter. "“A scene of Villainy acted by a dirty Banditti, as must astonish the Public”: The
Creation of the Boston Massacre." The New England Quarterly 90.4 (2017): 502-539.
Novick, David, et al. "The Boston Massacre history experience." Proceedings of the 19th ACM
International Conference on Multimodal Interaction. ACM, 2017.
Shi, David E., and George Brown Tindall. America: A narrative history. WW Norton &
Company, 2016.
Smith, Eric. "Session D-1: Encounters in the Chesapeake: Bacon’s Rebellion, Virginian
Taxation, and the Making of an American Political Tradition." (2015).