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Boston Massacre

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

All documents and text associated with this activity are printed below, followed by a worksheet for student responses.

Introduction

Look at both of these images of the Boston Massacre carefully.  From using what we have learned about this already and analyzing these images, answer the following questions.


Name:
Class:

Worksheet

Boston Massacre

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

Examine the documents included in this activity and write your response in the space provided.


What differences are there between these two images? 

Who do you think the intended audience is for each?

What is the author's purpose for each image?

How do these images show different perspectives of authority?

Which image is more historically accurate?

What questions do you have about these images?

Your Response




1

Activity Element

Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. Copy of chromolithograph by John Bufford after William L. Champney, circa 1856




2

Activity Element

The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston




3

Activity Element




Conclusion

Boston Massacre

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

How did these images support what you already knew about the Boston Massacre?  What was something new that you learned about the Boston Massacre?

Your Response




Document

Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. Copy of chromolithograph by John Bufford after William L. Champney

3/5/1770 (artwork ca. 1856)

This is a copy of a chromolithograph (color print) by John Bufford after William L. Champney's circa 1856 drawing. Champney's drawing is the earliest known depiction of Crispus Attucks as a person of color participating in the Boston Massacre.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Work Projects Administration.
National Archives Identifier: 518263
Full Citation: Photograph 69-N-4877-C; Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. Copy of chromolithograph by John Bufford after William L. Champney; 3/5/1770 (artwork ca. 1856); WPA Information Division Photographic Index, ca. 1936 - ca. 1942; Records of the Work Projects Administration, ; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/boston-massacre-chromolithograph, April 28, 2024]


Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. Copy of chromolithograph by John Bufford after William L. Champney

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Document

The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a Party of the 29th Reg

3/1770

This is a copy of Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre showing his depiction of events – British soldiers firing at Americans. The engraving was published three weeks after the "massacre" and includes a poem Revere likely wrote.

Transcript

Unhappy Boston! see thy Sons deplore
Thy hallow’d walks besmear’d with guiltless gore
While faithless P____n and his savage bands
With murd'rous rancour stretch their bloody hands
Like fierce barbarians grinning o’er their prey
Approve the carnage and enjoy the day.

If scalding drops from rage, from anguish wrung
If speechless sorrow, lab’ring for a tongue
Or if a weeping world can ought appease
The plaintive ghosts of victims such as these
The patriot’s copious tears for each are shed
A glorious tribute which embalms the dead.

But know, Fate summons to that awful goal
Where Justice strips the murd’rer of his soul,
Should venal C___ts, the scandal of the land,
Snatch the relentless villain from her Hand
Keen execrations on this plate inscrib’d
Shall reach a Judge who never can be brib’d.

The unhappy sufferers were Mesr’s Sam’l Gray, Sam’l Maverick, James Caldwell Crispus Attucks, & Patr. Carr Killed Six wounded; two of them (Christ’r Monk & John Clark) mortally.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer.
National Archives Identifier: 530966
Full Citation: Photograph 111-SC-92632; The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a Party of the 29th Reg; 3/1770; Photographs of American Military Activities, ca. 1918 - ca. 1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, ; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/bloody-massacre-king-street, April 28, 2024]


The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a Party of the 29th Reg

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Document

Full Citation: . [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/, April 28, 2024]