The Boston Massacre unfolded on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston. While often depicted as a brutal act of British oppression, a closer look reveals the incident was the result of increasing friction between the colonists and the British authorities.
A series of economic acts passed by the British Parliament in the 1760s designed to generate revenue and curb England’s massive debt from the French and Indian War sowed the seeds of discontent in the Massachusetts colony. Colonists in America fiercely resisted these measures, viewing them as an infringement on their rights as British citizens. While many colonists adopted a policy of economic boycotts to reverse the laws, others, especially those in Boston, resorted to violence.
