By Stephanie (Seo) Kim

Due date 1/18/2011

Period 3~4
Process Paper
The Trials of the Boston Massacre: The Biased and the Innocent

When I first heard of the Boston Massacre, I was instantly hooked with the topic.

The burning hatred of the Bostonians, and the British doing their duty towards the king

clashed on that unfortunate day. By the time I saw the engraving by Paul Revere, which

depicted a helpless group of Bostonians being shot by the aggressive British, I was

amazed how people could be so biased, in order to liberate their country. This curiosity

eventually led to researching about the trials that followed that event, for my National

History Day topic.

I knew I already had a few primary sources in hand; the engravings and a copy of

the newspaper article published on that day. First, I started looking this topic up on the

internet, finding many helpful sources, relating to John Adams, Josiah Quincy, and

many other people, both on the colonists and the British side. Then, I went to the library,

which I also found very informative. It had a whole section of the early American history,

so all I had to do was pick and choose the books from that time period. The most helpful

secondary source was, “History in the Making” by Kyle Ward, because it showed many

different perspectives and points of view on the Boston Massacre.

When I asked myself which type of presentation I wanted to do, the answer came

quite easily. Since I did a website last year and had first-hand experiences on it, I

decided to do it again, improving myself. First, I thought of trying an exhibition, but the

making of the backboards felt too hard, so I decided to do it with technology.

 This year’s theme and my topic have a lot in common. Successes, failures, and

consequences all connect to the trial of the five British soldiers charged guilty after the

Boston Massacre. It stirred up the patriotic feelings in the colonists, and the British

learned not to underestimate them. Some consequences were that the British started to

put harsher laws and taxes on the colonists, thinking that it would suppress their

rebellion. Even with this strain upon them, the colonists fought on with the British.
 <Annotated Bibliography>
Primary Sources:

1. Adams, John. "Summaton of John Adams." The Boston Massacre Trials 1770.
N.p.,
     n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/
     ftrials/bostonmassacre/bostonmassacre.html>.

This site was very informative because it showed the exact quotes and dialogues of the
trials that happened after the Boston Massacre. It also showed the perspective of John
Adams in detail, one of the most important figures of this patriotic event.

2. "The Bloody Massacre." Boston Gazette 5 Mar. 1770: n. pag. Print.

This was one of the most important primary sources that I used for the NHD website. It
showed the biased way the colonists used to think of the British, but it also depicted a
patriotic stir that started the Boston Massacre.

3. Otis, James. "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1763)."
     America Past and Present Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.
     <http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bookbind/pubbooks/divine5e/chapter5/
     medialib/primarysources3_5_2.html>.

This was one of the primary sources that I used for this project. It gave me a lot of
images and gave detailed dialogues of the trial.

4. Revere, Paul. The Boston Massacre. March 5th, 1770. Engraving.

Although highly biased, it was one of the most significant primary sources in that time by
Paul Revere. It was reprinted on a newspaper that was published on the day of the
Boston Massacre (also a primary source). This source was very unique.

Secondary sources:

1. Boorstin, Daniel J, The Americans - the National Experience. New York:

Random,
     1965. Print.

Although it was a secondary source, it contained few pictures of primary sources that
was needed for my website and papers. It also showed the many different perspectives
of the important colonial figures in that time period.

2. "The Boston Massacre." History Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010.
     <http://www.historycentral.com/revolt/Massacre.html>.
This was one of the few websites that only talked about the Boston Massacre and its
successes, failures, and consequences. This website provided many pictures for my
website, too.

3. "Boston Massacre Trials." United States History. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010.
     <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1249.html>.

This gave detailed insight and many different perspectives of the Boston Massacre and
its trials. Because of its multiple points of view, it was not as biased as some other
sources that I came by with.

4. "Colonial America." American Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.

     <http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_subj.html>.

This website gave me a detailed review of the trials after the Boston Massacre, which
helped me to elaborate on my topic when I wrote my papers and worked on my website
media.

5. Compton's Encyclopedia. "British Laws Anger the Colonists." Encyclopedia

     Britannica. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.
     <http://www.noodletools.com/noodlebib/defineEntryMLA.php>.

This website was an online encyclopedia. It wasn't as biased as many other sources
that I looked at, so it was helpful. It had a lot of information that helped me on my
website.

6. - - -. "Pain, Rober Treat." Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov.

     2010. <http://school.eb.com/comptons/
     article-9312883?query=The%20Boston%20Massacre%20Trials&ct=>.

This was one of the online encyclopedia sites that really helped me a lot on the website.
Although a secondary source, it gave me a lot of information helpful for this project.

7. Folsom, Franklin. Give Me Liberty - America's Colonial Heritage. N.p.: Rand

     McNally, 1974. Print.

It had a lot of images that helped me on the website. This book source was secondary,
and it also gave a lot of points of view from the colonists. It showed in detail the
rebellion the colonists made.

8. Holypark Media. "What Was the Boston Massacre?" Boston Massacre Historical

     Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010.

     <http://www.bostonmassacre.net/>.
This web source showed in detail the British points of view, and showed in detail the
acts of suppression the British did to try and stop the revolution and the rebellion of the
uprising colonists.

9. Linder, Doug. "An Account of the Boston Massacre of 1770 and Subsequent
Trials."
     The Boston Massacre Trials. N.p., 2001. Web. 14 Nov. 2010.
     <http://school.eb.com/comptons/
     article-9312883?query=The%20Boston%20Massacre%20Trials&ct=>.

This was one of the most informative web sources that I came to find, because it had
many information according to John Adams and how he tried to have a fair trial even
though facing the British.

10. Maier, Pauline. "Samuel Adams." World Book Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov.
2010.
     <http://worldbookonline.com/student/
     article?id=ar003940&st=boston+massacre>.

This was one of the online encyclopedia sources that I used for this project.  This
showed how Samuel Adams tried to provoke the colonists into uprising, which also led
to the Boston Massacre.

11. Martin, James K. "The Boston Massacre." Wrold Book Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 14

     Nov. 2010. <http://worldbookonline.com/student/

     article?id=ar071220&st=the+boston+massacre>.

This was one of the online encyclopedia sources that I used for this project. It gave me
basic information about the Boston Massacre, and it privded many pictures.

12. Nevins, Allan, and Henry Steele Commager. A Short History of the United
States.
     New York: Borzoi Book, 1976. Print.

This was one of the book sources that I had to use for the project. It gave me plenty of
insight on the trials of the Boston Massacre to put into my project and my website.

13. O'Neill, Stephen C. "The Summary of the Boston Massacre Trial." The Boston
     Massacre Historical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010.
     <http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/trial-summary2.htm>.

This was one of the web sources that talked mainly about the happenings of the Boston
Massacre, and it was helpful because it had a lot of details that was not widely known
about the Boston Massacre.
 14. Schlesinger, Arthur M. The Birth of the Nation- a Portrait of the American
     People on the Eve of Independence. New York: Houghton, 1968. Print.

This was a very helpful book source that showed many perspectives of the Boston
Massacre trials.

15. Wald, Kyle R. History in the Making-an Absorbing Look at How American History

     Has Changed in the Telling over the Last 200 Years. New York: New Press,
     2007. Print.

This was one of the helpful book sources. Although it was a secondary source, it gave a
detailed review of the trials after the Boston Massacre.

16. Wright, Louis B. The American Heritage- History of the Thirteen Colonies. N.p.:
     American Heritage , 1967. Print.

This book source had a lot of images that was helpful for me to understand the trial and
the events that followed after it. This also had a lot of insight upon the Boston Massacre.