The Mysteries of History (March 5 Edition)
Boston Massacre; Churchill's Iron Curtain Warning
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, 1905
1770 — Boston Massacre
public domain images from wikimedia commons
It was a dark and stormy night (on this date) in 1770. A bunch of American Colonists gathered at the Custom House in Boston to trash-talk the British soldiers guarding the place. The troops were there to keep the self-styled Patriots under control, who had chafed at being taxed but not represented in the halls of British government.
The British forgot their storied penchant to keep a stiff upper lip under pressure, and one of them fired on the crowd after beings struck by a snowball. This volley unleashed the hounds of hell, and pretty soon a general “massacre” was occurring, with the armed-with-more-than-snowball soldiers killing five Americans, namely Crispus Attucks, James Caldwell, Patrick Carr, and two Samuels — Gray and Maverick. These were shots heard throughout the colonies, and some consider it to be the opening salvo of the Revolutionary War. Although not known for sure, many believe that Attucks, a black man, thereby became the first casualty of the War for American Independence.
The British soldiers who had killed Americans were defended in court by future President John Adams and Josiah Quincy — who Adams apparently named his son after (John Quincy Adams, also a future President). Two of the soldiers were found guilty, but only of manslaughter, not murder. Their punishment? Having their thumbs branded with the letter “M” (for Murderer).
Midnight rider (no connection with the Allman Brothers song) Paul Revere created the image of the event at the top above.
The following is what I wrote about the Boston Massacre in my book “Still Casting Shadows: A Shared Mosaic of U.S. History — Volume 1: 1620-1913”:
“A revolution of government is the strongest proof that can be given by a people of their virtue and good sense.”—John Adams
“I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave cries give, give. The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenuous for the Rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of Government.”—Abigail Adams
“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”—John Adams
England had sent four thousand troops to Boston, a city whose population numbered at the time only four times that. This display of force was intended to quell any uprisings that may take place. This backfired, though, when one of the soldiers heard (or thought he heard) the word “fire” and started shooting at a crowd of Bostonians which had been pelting the soldiers with snow, ice, and rocks. Five members of the crowd were killed. The first victim was a mulatto man named Crispus Attucks, a former slave of mixed Wampanoag Indian/African/ European ancestry. Some consider the Boston Massacre to have been the opening salvo in the Revolutionary War. Tensions continued to mount between the colonial hosts and their uninvited guests.
Defending the British soldiers in court was none other than John Adams, future second President. Despite his quotes above, which seem to reveal an enthusiasm for revolution and skepticism of government, Adams described the crowd that had been fired upon by the British troops as “a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and mulattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs.” Perhaps Mr. Adams did not really feel that way about them, but was just doing what lawyers do (lionizing their client while launching ad hominem attacks against the other side).
Questions: How long did the British soldiers stay in Boston? When did they finally absquatulate, and why? What further role did Paul Revere have in the revolt against the British squatters?
1946 — Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech
public domain images from wikimedia commons (on the map, the red portion shows those countries who are on the other side of “The Iron Curtain”)
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in the town of Fulton in central Missouri (of all places) on this date in 1946, less than a year after World War 2 ended, a war in which America and Russia both fought against Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
In his oration, Churchill warned against what he called an “Iron Curtain” that had Russia had descended on the outer borders of Russia’s “sphere of influence.” Britain and America already had a “special relationship,” but Churchill doubled down on this courtship and, in effect, proposed a marriage alliance between his nation and America. Saying America was “the pinnacle of world power,” Churchill proposed that they jointly control and police the post-war world; he warned against allowing Russia to expand its territory and influence.
When it came to U.S. President Harry Truman and other American officials, Churchill was preaching to the choir — they already felt the same way, and were warmly receptive to his take on geopolitical affairs and how to approach them, albeit not as equal partners with the gradually declining Britain, but rather with America as the controlling (albeit younger) partner in the relationship.
Questions: What role does a man named Winston play in George Orwell’s novel 1984? Is there any connection between Winston Churchill and Winston cigarettes? Is it still true that “the sun never sets on the British Empire”? After America’s defense build-up during the hottest part of the “Cold War,” what warning did outgoing President Eisenhower sound in 1961?
