Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: John Adams and the Boston Massacre Trial
[Originally posted on September 6, 2014 as part of the "Presidents and the Law" series.]
Before he became president and before the Declaration of Independence, John Adams gained notoriety as the lawyer for unpopular defendants in a criminal trial. The trial concerned an incident which took place on March 5, 1770,that became known as the Boston Massacre. Adams' clients were British soldiers and he showed himself to be a man of great principle in accepting such a controversial brief.
At the time, Boston was the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. It was also major center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation by the British Parliament. The Townshend Acts had made a variety of common items that were manufactured in Britain and exported to the colonies subject to import tariffs. Colonists objected that the Townshend Acts were a violation of their rights as British subjects. The Massachusetts House of Representatives sent a petition to King George III asking for the repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act, and had also called for a boycott of merchants importing the affected goods.
In April of 1768, Lord Hillsborough, the Colonial Secretary, sent a letter to the colonial governors in America, instructing them to dissolve the colonial assemblies that supported the boycott. He also ordered Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to direct the Massachusetts House to rescind the letter. The house refused to comply. Boston's chief customs officer, Charles Paxton, asked Hillsborough for military support. Britain sent the fifty-gun warship HMS Romney in response, which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768. On June 10, 1768, customs officials seized the Liberty, a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, because they believed that the ship had been involved in smuggling. Bostonians, already angry because the captain of the Romney had been impressing local sailors, began to riot. Hillsborough instructed General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief, North America, to send reinforcements to Boston" and on October 1, 1768, the first of four British Army regiments began disembarking in Boston.
On February 22, 1770, 11 year old Christopher Seider was killed by a customs employee. His death was used to inflame anti-British sentiment and led to subsequent confrontations between gangs of colonists and British soldiers.
On the evening of March 5, Private Hugh White, a British soldier, stood on guard duty outside the Custom house on King Street. A young wigmaker's apprentice named Edward Garrick began to taunt a British officer, Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch, saying that Goldfinch had not paid a bill due to Garrick's master. Goldfinch had in fact paid his account and ignored the insult. Private White called out to Garrick that he should be more respectful of the officer and the two exchanged insults. Private White left his post and struck Garrick on the side of the head with his musket. Then incident attracted a larger crowd. As the crowd around Private White grew larger and more boisterous, church bells were rung, which usually signified a fire, bringing more people out. Over fifty Bostonians pressed around White, throwing objects at him and challenging him to fire his weapon. Runners alerted Captain Thomas Preston, the officer of the watch, who sent more men to the scene. The men had loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. Preston shouted at the crowd, estimated at between three and four hundred, to disperse.
The crowd continued to taunt the soldiers, yelling, "fire!" The were also spitting at and throwing snowballs and other small objects at them. A thrown object struck Private Montgomery, knocking him down and causing him to drop his musket. He recovered his weapon, and discharged it into the crowd, even though no command was given. Innkeeper Richard Palmes swung his cudgel at Montgomery, hitting his arm, and then at Captain Preston, narrowly missed Preston's head and striking him on the arm.
Soldiers fired into the crowd, even though Preston gave no orders to fire. The shots hit eleven men. Three men, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks, died instantly. Samuel Maverick was struck by a ricocheting musket ball and died a few hours later. Patrick Carr, died two weeks later. Christopher Monk was seriously wounded in the attack.
The crowd moved away from the custom house, but congregated in nearby streets. Captain Preston called out the 29th Regiment, which set up defensive positions in front of the state house. Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson was summoned to the scene, and able to restore some order, promising there would be a fair inquiry into the shootings if the crowd dispersed.
Hutchinson immediately began investigating the affair, and by morning, Preston and the eight soldiers had been arrested. On March 27 the eight soldiers, Captain Preston, and four civilians who were in the Customs House and were alleged to have fired shots, were all indicted for murder.
The government wanted to give the soldiers a fair trial so there would be no grounds for retaliation by the British. A number of lawyers refused to defend Preston, including a number of Loyalists. Preston asked John Adams to represent him. Adams was a leaded in the patriot cause, but he agreed to help, in the interest of ensuring a fair trial. Adams was joined by two other lawyers: Josiah Quincy II and Robert Auchmuty, a Loyalist. Paul Revere, who drew a detailed map of the bodies to be used in the trial. Massachusetts Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney Robert Treat Paine were hired by the town of Boston, prosecuted the case.
Preston was tried separately in late October 1770. He was acquitted after the jury was convinced that he had not ordered the troops to fire. The trial of the remaining eight soldiers began on November 27, 1770. In his address to the jury, Adams told them to ignore the fact the soldiers were British. He argued that if the soldiers were endangered by the mob (which Adams referred to as "a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and mulattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs", then they had the legal right to fight back, and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, then they were guilty of manslaughter.
The jury agreed with Adams and acquitted six of the soldiers after two and one-half hours deliberation. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter because the evidence showed that they had deliberately fired directly into the crowd. The convicted soldiers were granted reduced sentences, and their sentences were reduced from a death sentence to branding of the thumb in open court.
Adams was paid only a small fee by the British soldiers. His representation of these defendants did not appear to hurt him politically. In June 1770 (after he had agreed to act for the soldiers, but before the trial), Adams was elected to the Massachusetts General Court (the colonial legislature).
Before he became president and before the Declaration of Independence, John Adams gained notoriety as the lawyer for unpopular defendants in a criminal trial. The trial concerned an incident which took place on March 5, 1770,that became known as the Boston Massacre. Adams' clients were British soldiers and he showed himself to be a man of great principle in accepting such a controversial brief.
At the time, Boston was the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. It was also major center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation by the British Parliament. The Townshend Acts had made a variety of common items that were manufactured in Britain and exported to the colonies subject to import tariffs. Colonists objected that the Townshend Acts were a violation of their rights as British subjects. The Massachusetts House of Representatives sent a petition to King George III asking for the repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act, and had also called for a boycott of merchants importing the affected goods.
In April of 1768, Lord Hillsborough, the Colonial Secretary, sent a letter to the colonial governors in America, instructing them to dissolve the colonial assemblies that supported the boycott. He also ordered Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to direct the Massachusetts House to rescind the letter. The house refused to comply. Boston's chief customs officer, Charles Paxton, asked Hillsborough for military support. Britain sent the fifty-gun warship HMS Romney in response, which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768. On June 10, 1768, customs officials seized the Liberty, a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, because they believed that the ship had been involved in smuggling. Bostonians, already angry because the captain of the Romney had been impressing local sailors, began to riot. Hillsborough instructed General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief, North America, to send reinforcements to Boston" and on October 1, 1768, the first of four British Army regiments began disembarking in Boston.
On February 22, 1770, 11 year old Christopher Seider was killed by a customs employee. His death was used to inflame anti-British sentiment and led to subsequent confrontations between gangs of colonists and British soldiers.
On the evening of March 5, Private Hugh White, a British soldier, stood on guard duty outside the Custom house on King Street. A young wigmaker's apprentice named Edward Garrick began to taunt a British officer, Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch, saying that Goldfinch had not paid a bill due to Garrick's master. Goldfinch had in fact paid his account and ignored the insult. Private White called out to Garrick that he should be more respectful of the officer and the two exchanged insults. Private White left his post and struck Garrick on the side of the head with his musket. Then incident attracted a larger crowd. As the crowd around Private White grew larger and more boisterous, church bells were rung, which usually signified a fire, bringing more people out. Over fifty Bostonians pressed around White, throwing objects at him and challenging him to fire his weapon. Runners alerted Captain Thomas Preston, the officer of the watch, who sent more men to the scene. The men had loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. Preston shouted at the crowd, estimated at between three and four hundred, to disperse.
The crowd continued to taunt the soldiers, yelling, "fire!" The were also spitting at and throwing snowballs and other small objects at them. A thrown object struck Private Montgomery, knocking him down and causing him to drop his musket. He recovered his weapon, and discharged it into the crowd, even though no command was given. Innkeeper Richard Palmes swung his cudgel at Montgomery, hitting his arm, and then at Captain Preston, narrowly missed Preston's head and striking him on the arm.
Soldiers fired into the crowd, even though Preston gave no orders to fire. The shots hit eleven men. Three men, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks, died instantly. Samuel Maverick was struck by a ricocheting musket ball and died a few hours later. Patrick Carr, died two weeks later. Christopher Monk was seriously wounded in the attack.
The crowd moved away from the custom house, but congregated in nearby streets. Captain Preston called out the 29th Regiment, which set up defensive positions in front of the state house. Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson was summoned to the scene, and able to restore some order, promising there would be a fair inquiry into the shootings if the crowd dispersed.
Hutchinson immediately began investigating the affair, and by morning, Preston and the eight soldiers had been arrested. On March 27 the eight soldiers, Captain Preston, and four civilians who were in the Customs House and were alleged to have fired shots, were all indicted for murder.
The government wanted to give the soldiers a fair trial so there would be no grounds for retaliation by the British. A number of lawyers refused to defend Preston, including a number of Loyalists. Preston asked John Adams to represent him. Adams was a leaded in the patriot cause, but he agreed to help, in the interest of ensuring a fair trial. Adams was joined by two other lawyers: Josiah Quincy II and Robert Auchmuty, a Loyalist. Paul Revere, who drew a detailed map of the bodies to be used in the trial. Massachusetts Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney Robert Treat Paine were hired by the town of Boston, prosecuted the case.
Preston was tried separately in late October 1770. He was acquitted after the jury was convinced that he had not ordered the troops to fire. The trial of the remaining eight soldiers began on November 27, 1770. In his address to the jury, Adams told them to ignore the fact the soldiers were British. He argued that if the soldiers were endangered by the mob (which Adams referred to as "a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and mulattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs", then they had the legal right to fight back, and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, then they were guilty of manslaughter.
The jury agreed with Adams and acquitted six of the soldiers after two and one-half hours deliberation. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter because the evidence showed that they had deliberately fired directly into the crowd. The convicted soldiers were granted reduced sentences, and their sentences were reduced from a death sentence to branding of the thumb in open court.
Adams was paid only a small fee by the British soldiers. His representation of these defendants did not appear to hurt him politically. In June 1770 (after he had agreed to act for the soldiers, but before the trial), Adams was elected to the Massachusetts General Court (the colonial legislature).