Question

Review the primary source document listed below.

Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre 1770

Answer 1

Paul Revere's famous engraving the bloody massacre, which is more frequently refered to as the Boston Massacre. It is the work which shows how Revere combines his entrepreneurial skills with his patriotic fervor. He was also engraver and a businessman.

It appears that Pelham engraved his own version of the Massacre and lent Revere some version of it, from which Revere made his engraving, adding at the top his title and at the bottom a heroic couplet and the names of those killed or who were expected to die. He advertised the sale of the prints on March 26, 1770, three weeks after the Massacre and a week before Henry Pelham began selling copies of his own version. On March 29 Pelham wrote to Revere accusing him of acting dishonorably and taking credit for work Pelham himself had done.It appears that Pelham engraved his own version of the Massacre and lent Revere some version of it, from which Revere made his engraving, adding at the top his title and at the bottom a heroic couplet and the names of those killed or who were expected to die. He advertised the sale of the prints on March 26, 1770, three weeks after the Massacre and a week before Henry Pelham began selling copies of his own version. On March 29 Pelham wrote to Revere accusing him of acting dishonorably and taking credit for work Pelham himself had done.

The Bloody Massacre was designed to elevate a tragic incident into a politically motivated calamity and agitate the colonists’ negative view of the British occupation of Boston. Colonists had already been subjected to various taxation laws passed by the British Parliament to cover the costs of the French and Indian War and to help defray the costs of the ongoing security that the British continued to provide for the colonies. The Boston citizenry had been an irritant to the British Government and as the radical element became more vocal, Britain sent troops to occupy Boston in 1768.