Tags
1770, American Colonies, Boston, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Great Britain, Indian Wars, March 5, Massachusetts, Redcoats, this day in history, United Kingdom, United States of America
Compared To Later Massacres, Boston's Was A Tea Party (Not To Be Confused With The Historical Event Of The Same Name).
On which British Redcoats fire into a mob of colonial yahoos, slaying five. The incident, later known in America as the Boston Massacre, drives a further wedge in the growing schism between the colonists and the mother country, which in just over five years’ time will blossom into outright rebellion.
Five? Only Five People Died And You're Calling It A Massacre? Let Me Show You How We Do Things In The USA, Son.
Promethean Times 
Really?! Only 5?!
I know, right?
That would hardly even qualify for a decent size school shooting.
And with no women or kids killed, it might not even make the news. Thinking again, however, it might get some play from a civil rights angle. The Boston Massacre is notable in that one of the colonists killed was a man known as Crispus Atticus (‘Crispus Attucks’ is also used, and in fact is more widely accepted, but I think ‘Atticus’ just sounds cooler). Although the rebellion wouldn’t start in full for a few more years (Lexington & Concord was April 19th, 1775 & the US declared Independence on July 2nd–not a misprint–1776), Atticus is considered the first black person to be killed in the Revolution (which I submit is misnamed, as the American War for Independence was not properly a revolution, but rather a successful rebellion).
Seems our definition of massacre has shifted. And not in the right direction…
That’s true. And despite what it was able to accomplish in the 19th Century (and isolated events in the 20th & 21st Centuries–see also Mi Lai & Haditha), the US has long-since ceded its massacre credentials to third-world despots, as well as major players like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot & Mao. Worst of all, exciting young talents like Syria’s Bashar al-Assad or Sudan’s Janjaweed militias are eclipsing even the memory of US innovations in massacre science.
While we sit in our over-fed American stupors and watch…(Or worse, not even notice…)
Well, I’ve always thought it my role in life to talk the talk. I prefer to let others walk the walk. That way, everybody feels included.
Oh, I wasn’t referring to you and me specifically. It was a collective “we”. 🙂
No option to reply above Smak…but how did the 4th come into play then?
It mostly comes into play because of my pedantic and insufferable knowitallism. It’s more of a historical footnote than anything you need to remember, but since you asked, Congress voted independence on July 2nd, prompting John Adams to make the following statement:
However, the July 2nd independence vote was not officially ratified until the 4th, leaving the future president with his dick in his hands, as it were.
…seems kinda wrong.