Boston Massacre summary

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Discover what caused the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Boston Massacre.

Boston Massacre, Skirmish on March 5, 1770, between British troops and a crowd in Boston. After provocation by the colonists, British soldiers fired on the mob and killed five men, including Crispus Attucks. The incident was widely publicized by Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and others as a battle for American liberty, and it contributed to the unpopularity of the British in the years before the American Revolution.