Summer Series Part 3: The Boston Massacre

Welcome to our 2024 Summer Special! In the month of July, we have the opportunity to learn from Sher in the way she taught in her classroom. For the next five weeks, we will dive into her students' favorite topics from American history. We will study the Declaration of Independence, George Washington, the Boston Massacre, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and end with Benedict Arnold. Brush up on your history knowledge while being entertained. Welcome to Part 3: The Boston Massacre. We are so glad you are here!

This Week's Challenge
Reflect on Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation 97, which calls us to remember the divine source of our nation's blessings. Have we forgotten to acknowledge God's role in our peace and prosperity? Challenge yourself to stand up for your beliefs, even when it is difficult, and recognize the importance of seeking and valuing Divine Guidance in your life.

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Be sure to ask him how he behaved in Sher's 9th grade class!

Show Notes

Drip-Drip Drop, Words and  Music by  Matt Hoiland
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Transcript

Episode 64 - Summer Series Part 3: The Boston Massacre

Cydni: [00:00:00] this is Cydni and 

Sher: I'm Sher. And each week we get together to share with you a message of hope.

Cydni: It is through our own study and our personal experiences that we offer the reminder to not only seek the light, 

Sher: but be the light. You can find peace and there is hope

Cydni: and as long as one of us is slightly caffeinated, there will be laughter. 

Welcome to the Summer Series

Part Three, 

Sher: The Boston Massacre. 

Cydni: And we're so glad you are here 

Sher: Today, Cydni, we're going to talk about the Boston Massacre. 

Cydni: Can I tell you something though? Please. Okay. I did think based on the name that it was going to be a lot more intense. of what it is and it made me wonder was this kind of a publicity type thing because I also heard it was called the Bloody Massacre.

Sher: Yeah, that's a really good question because Paul Revere, have you heard of Paul Revere? Yeah, 

Cydni: he's the one who called it the Bloody Massacre. 

Sher: Yeah, and it was [00:01:00] total propaganda. He really wanted to leave Britain. So he wrote an article and used his artistic ability and , he called it the Bloody Massacre. To get people riled up, to make it look like the British just fired. on innocent Boston residents. 

Cydni: I got that vibe. I did because I knew nothing about this before we started. So thanks again for letting me be your student of history. 

Sher: You're welcome. It's bringing back good times and good memories from the old days. 

Cydni: You're like, and this is why I retired. Thank you for the reminder. so I did look up some stuff just in case, mostly out of fear that you might ask me a question so I wanted to know a little bit. And I only know a little bit, so I stayed true to that, but I did read about it and also listened to a little documentary, and I thought, this is propaganda. 

Sher: Yeah, you called it. Good job. 

Cydni: Thank you. 

Sher: Okay. You're welcome. 

Cydni: I'm ready to be a student now. 

Sher: All right, here we go. So, to understand the Boston Massacre, which occurred in 1770, we actually need to go back to 1763. And this is when the French and Indian war ended. And we talked about that last week with [00:02:00] George Washington, the French and Indian war was a fight for world power between France and Britain. And now when the war was over, Britain was finally the world power. They were number one. They knocked out all the other European countries. Let's go Britain! Yeah, way to go! But before 1763, Britain was busy conquering the world. They had to conquer France and Spain and everybody else. And they didn't have time to worry about the 13 colonies. So Jamestown, the first successful British colony was started in 1607 and then Plymouth with the Pilgrims was started in 1620 and then the 13 colonies are going to grow from there. So for about 150 years, the 13 colonies were kind of just left alone. Why Britain was going around conquering the world. They didn't have time to worry about the 13 colonies. So the 13 colonies sort of became like the latchkey kids. Mom and dad were off busy. they were working and trying to support the family. They wanted to be the most powerful family on the block. [00:03:00] And so the 13 colonies pretty much grew up on their own without mom and dad around. 

Cydni: If you were my history teacher, I think I would have doodled a little bit less. 

Sher: You can doodle now. Right now? Then you can remember that Britain was like our mom and dad. I just don't want you to know, but I was. That's fair. I was writing a poem. Please don't tell us what it's about. Alright, if we think of the 13 colonies as, Britain's children, these kids were just kind of growing up on their own. But the thing that was different about these 13 colonies is they were pretty good kids. They kind of messed up a little bit, but for the most part, they were good. They got up on their own in the morning, and they went to school, and they got straight A's, and they were on the honor roll, and they were in the choir, and they were involved in theater, and they played all the sports, and they made sure that they went to church every Sunday. They were good kids. 

Cydni: This is making me feel better. I left my kids home all day by themselves so I can get my hair done yesterday, and now I'm feeling like it's okay. Yeah, it's okay. 

Sher: Look, yeah, 13 colonies turned out. Mostly okay. Okay, so All the other European countries had been taken out, but now Britain [00:04:00] needed to take out France. And so when the French and Indian Wars started, the 13 colonies were so honored because mom and dad finally invited them to go and help fight in the final war for world dominance and world power. When Britain won, here's where things start to go a little crazy. As mom and dad, now they had conquered the world and they decided to stay home more, which we thought would be good. We're going to have quality time with our parents and we're going to hang out. We're going to have so much fun and we're going to go on picnics and they're going to come to all of our basketball games. And they're going to be there when we're singing the choir. And we're so excited about it until. 

Cydni: This is inspiring me before you tell me what you're going to say. I think I'm gonna leave my kids more. I just have a feeling this isn't gonna go well. So I'm gonna get my hair done more. I'm gonna go get my nails done. I'm gonna take up a hobby, another hobby. Okay, continue. 

Sher: Your kids would probably like that but Rude. But true. All right. So we were really excited that mom and dad were going to be home with us more until we got to [00:05:00] know mom and dad a little bit better. Oh no. A big oh no. Because they told us to go to school at 7 30 when for 150 years we'd be getting up on our own by ourselves getting ready and going at 8. And that was early enough. We still got to school on time. they wanted us to do our homework at five, but we always did our homework at seven and they wanted us to stop playing basketball and stop singing in the choir and they wanted us to play cricket and we didn't want to do that, we wanted to do what we'd been doing for the last 150 years. So Britain started to micromanage all these 13 colonies and they didn't really like it so much. 

Cydni: No, who likes to be micromanaged? Nobody. 

Sher: I do not like to be micromanaged ever. 

Cydni: Terrible parent . 

Sher: Also, they learned something else. They learned that their mom and dad, they looked down on them. In fact, they considered those 13 colonies to be Yankees. 

Cydni: Not the Yankees. 

Sher: It's true. They were Yankees, which back in the day was a bad word. 

Cydni: Right. Cause like Yankee Doodle, he stuck a feather [00:06:00] in his hair and. Hat. That's just a hat. It's just a disaster. 

Sher: It was. Read the whole words. It's a song they're , totally putting us down. Really? Yeah. But then we rewrote it and threw it back in their face. So, you know. I mean, yeah. 

Cydni: That's how you it in my head right now, it doesn't sound really. Not like encouraging. it isn't. Can you imagine, like nowadays when rappers go at each other, it's a little bit different than, Yankee Doodle went to town. . exactly. Yeah. Wow. Things have changed. A little bit. On the streets. Yeah. Read the real words and you'll be like, Oh, maybe not so much. I'm going to. Okay. Homework accepted.

Sher: All right. We found out that we weren't like our parents, and our parents considered us less than them. We were born in the wrong place, which we didn't realize until we got to know our parents just a little bit more. So, what Britain was really doing then, they needed to pay for all the wars. Because they had just spent a lot of time conquering the world. And they needed to raise taxes in order to pay for all of this. Which we understood, we had been paying taxes already. The colonists got that. The difference is, is because [00:07:00] mom and dad decided to micromanage us now. They wanted us to pay taxes without any representation. And the taxes were designed to help Britain pay for everything, but it was ruining American businesses and their commerce. People were losing their jobs and the colonists, again, they understood they needed to help pay the taxes, but there were better ways of doing it. Also, the British, they told the Americans they could only buy British products. , and Americans were used to buying anything they wanted from anyone, anywhere, at any time. From France, from Spain, they'd go to South America, they'd go to the Caribbean. It didn't matter, they would go anywhere and buy whatever they wanted for commerce. 

Cydni: It's like the first Kardashians. Right, like only by this lip product? Same? 

Sher: I guess, because I don't ever watch the Kardashians. Me either. But sure, yeah, I don't know. 

Cydni: Me either. I definitely don't. I don't know what's going on. 

Sher: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. so the Americans, because they were used to buying whatever and whenever they wanted, they stopped buying all the British products in general. They just boycotted all of it and they [00:08:00] started smuggling everything in.

Cydni: History really does repeat itself, right? It does. Like, that's what happens, is don't buy that pillow from that man. So everyone buys it. 

Sher: right. So this led to more Americans losing their legal jobs and pushing them more into illegal jobs like smuggling. So the king to stop this, he created a general search warrant, and he told his soldiers and his sailors that they could stop and search those Yankees anytime and anywhere to find the smuggled goods. They could search individuals, their boats, their homes, their businesses, anywhere, anytime. Nothing was off limits to them. So, the colonists had British soldiers stopping and searching them. Which obviously is not a good way to make friends. 

Cydni: I agree. Thank you. That's not how you make friends and influence people. 

Sher: It is not. People don't like that. all of this contention is going to lead to the Boston massacre. Now, this isn't the best moment in American history for the way the Americans acted, but [00:09:00] it does show that a really good leader, John Adams, that he would stand up for what was right, even though it wasn't in his best interest. So. Boston. Has a huge harbor and a ginormous port. The colonists, they worked at those docks loading and unloading ships. And those ships brought in goods for the colonists and they sent those goods out all over through the 13 colonies. But this boycott that the colonies were doing , it led to no work for those young men. Being a dock worker is an entry level job. And so now all of those young men. They were losing their jobs and they obviously weren't happy about it. these are young men that were in their late teens and early twenties. We're lifting boxes off boats and putting them into wagons and vice versa. Now you have all these men, with no jobs. So what are they going to do all day? 

Cydni: Mischievousness. 

Sher: That's what they were doing, and so they decided that they would meet at various bars throughout the day. 

Cydni: That's what I would do. I'd go to various bars by 10 a. [00:10:00] m. 

Sher: And that's what they were doing, Cydni. You would have fit in well.

Cydni: So no judgment from me, because I get it. Have you ever been to a bar, Cydni? I think when I was a child, there was one that I walked into and was asked to leave. I just didn't know what it was. 

Sher: So Cydni's an expert. As am I. All right. So they would meet at the bar. They would complain, and then they would start protesting, which leads us to March 5th, 1770 when the Boston Massacre is going to go down. So what happened is there was a kid that was either mouthing off to a British soldier or he had just stolen something either way he was mouthing off to the British soldier and the British soldier grabbed him by his coat and then hit him with the butt of his gun right in the head the kids screamed out in pain, and then the colonists came running to see what was happening. colonists began yelling and screaming at the British soldiers, which got the attention of all those young men. that had nothing to do but just hang out in a bar and complain all day long.

Cydni: They were just waiting for it. They were. 

Sher: . They were waiting for something to happen and it finally happened. So all these late teens, early 20 men [00:11:00] came running and they start saying, what you doing hitting one of our kids? Who do you think you are? British soldiers. 

Cydni: They probably hit the kid all the time.

Sher: They probably did. 

Cydni: They didn't even like the kid. They just wanted a good brawl. 

Sher: That is what they did because they were telling British soldiers to basically square up. They're like, come on, square up, tough guy. What you got? Really what they were saying is fire, damn you. You dare not. That's really what they were saying.

Cydni: That's what happens when you go to the bar at 10 a. m. That is what happens.

Sher: All right. The British soldiers had been ordered not to fire. So they were just trying to ignore these young Yankees that were trying to cause problems. But Someone either struck or threw a club at a British soldier and knocked him over. Out of fear and probably a lot of anger, he fired into the crowd, which caused the other soldiers to also fire.

Five Americans were killed. The first was Crispus Attucks. He was an African American man who had run away from slavery. And he was protesting with all the other Americans to have a right to be represented and have a say in the way taxes were being implemented. [00:12:00] He is considered the first person to die for the cause of liberty. He, along with four others, were buried at the Granary Cemetery all sharing the same grave and the same headstone. If you're ever in Boston, walk that Freedom Trail and you'll go right past it. Go check it out. it's amazing and beautiful. 

Cydni: What's really striking is that he ran away from slavery and he stuck around for this cause. And then that especially during this time that they were all buried together. 

Sher: it is it's amazing and it's humbling to think about where we were going at that time where we're headed and how we chose to Ignore the Declaration and get off track with the Civil War and That's why we needed a reset after the Civil War with Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe You Everybody getting us back on track. A poem was written Chris, about Crispus Attucks. It's super long, so I just pulled out a few things from it. It says, With broken chains on his limbs, And the cry in his blood, I am free. It also says the first to defy and the [00:13:00] first to die, and it ends by saying, and so must we come to the learning of Boston's lessons today. The moral that Crispus Attucks taught in the old heroic way, God made mankind to be one in blood as one in spirit and thought. And so great a boon by a brave man's death is never dearly bought. he was considered again, the first to defy and the first to die for the cause of liberty and I would really like it if we remembered that again. 

 So after the soldiers fired into the crowd, people were pretty upset and the colonists arrested those soldiers and took them to a colonial court where they were going to be tried for murder and if found guilty, they would be facing the death penalty. However, John Adams, who was an American leader and wanted to leave Britain and was pushing to leave Britain, he knew that this was not just and so he stood up and as a lawyer defended the British soldiers, John Adams He would help edit and write the Declaration of Independence. He would nominate George [00:14:00] Washington as the commander of the army. He would become our second president. And he understood that freedom and liberty required self control, justice, and God. He said, our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

 So even though it was not in his best interest, John Adams chose to go against the popular opinion and stand for justice, fairness, equality under the law Adams explained to the American court that the British were defending themselves and feared for their lives. He successfully defended and he ended up saving the soldiers lives. John Adams understood that this new country that we were trying to form, that it should be in his words, a government of laws and not of men.

He also stated that this would only be possible if quote, we recognize no Sovereign but God and no King but Jesus. So is it always in your best interest to stand up for what you believe? Standing up for the British wasn't popular. But [00:15:00] John Adams, he wanted to set an example of doing what was right over what was popular.

Cydni: It's pretty impressive because, again, what this is being called. The massacre, the bloody massacre, the Boston massacre. Yeah. So it's pretty amazing to stand up against what's popular and against what the media is saying and that people were killed. There's a lot going on there. 

Sher: Yeah. He just wanted the truth. Paul Revere wanted to make sure that Americans were riled up, that they wanted to leave the British and John Adams did too, but he also wanted it done in a way that was proper and correct. 

Cydni: The way that God could be on his side. He practiced the pause before he reacted.

Sher: Yes, he did. He wanted to follow God's law and not just the popular wave. That's what he wanted. John Adams said of this event, It was one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country. Judgment of death against those soldiers would have been a foul stain upon this country.

 John Adams understood that In order to start a [00:16:00] country following nature's God and the laws of nature, then we needed to stand for what we actually believed in. If we believe in self defense, and that's what the soldiers did, he needed to stand up for that. Even though he didn't like them, he knew that it was the right thing to do. So this is the beginning. The Boston Massacre is the beginning of the American patriots, both black and white, giving their lives and men like John Adams using their words to stand up for liberty and justice, showing us what it takes to follow God and to live free. It's not always popular, and we might get made fun of, but taking a stand to follow God and His law is always on the right side of history. This is our prayer. 

Cydni: From Cydni and Cher.