US History

U.S. History Study Guide

©2018 of 194 of the blame of this on the colonists who provoked the soldiers. Most famous to die by British hands was Crispus Attucks, an African-American colonist, who would be the first martyr and symbol of the American Revolution. Ironically, a future founding father, John Adams, would represent the British soldiers in court, feeling that they could not get fair representation because of the unpopularity of the incident. Captain Preston (the commanding officer) and six soldiers were set free. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter. They were branded as convicts and then released. Another Revolutionary figure, Paul Revere, would make this incident a massacre. Revere was a very gifted silversmith and engraver, as well as an extreme patriot for independence. He would make an engraving that would portray the colonist as passive victims in the hands of the bloodthirsty British aggressors. There were many inaccuracies in his engraving, for example Captain Preston never ordered a fire, the British were not lined up like a firing squad, and the colonists were in no way peaceful. This was no accident done with the purpose of propaganda, to elicit more people around the colonies to the cause. The engraving entitled "The Bloody Massacre" was printed and sent around the colonies, with already anti-British sentiment, this added more fuel to the fire. Townsend Duties Repealed Parliament finally repealed most of the Townshend Duties in March 1770. England was now led by a new prime minister, Lord North. North eliminated most of the taxes, but insisted on maintaining the tax on tea. In response, Americans maintained the boycott on British tea. This kept the tea tax revenues far too low to pay the royal governors, effectively nullifying what remained of the Townshend Duties. 5.11 Committees of Correspondence From 1770 to 1772, the tension cooled, but in 1772, Lord North began plans to pay royal governors out of customs revenue rather than let the colonial assemblies control payment. This would deny the assemblies the “power of the purse,” breaking the assembly’s ability to effectively check royal power by withholding, or threatening to withhold, payment. In response to this threat, Samuel Adams urged every Massachusetts community to appoint a committee to coordinate colony-wide measures protecting colonial rights. Within the year, approximately 250 Committees of Correspondence formed throughout the colonies. These committees linked political leaders of almost every colony in resistance to the British. The Committees of Correspondence began in Massachusetts and eventually became the way the colonies coordinated. By forming committees of correspondence, political leaders in the colonies could transfer complaints to paper and then distribute this information throughout the colonies. This helped to unify the colonies as incidents began to unfold that eventually led to the colonies going to war with Great Britain. Achieve Page 61

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