Paul Revere’s Role After Boston Massacre

Paul Revere, one of the leading patriots of the American Revolution, played a significant role after the Boston Massacre. Along with other patriotic leaders, he used the incident as propaganda against the British authority.

The most important part of Revere’s contribution was his picture of “The Bloody Massacre in King Street, March 5th, 1770”. In the picture, he showed the brutality of the English soldiers on unarmed and innocent colonists.

The picture broadly influenced American colonists’ viewpoint on the British government and its cruelty.

So, what was in the picture that angered the colonists so much and inspired them to rebel?

Let’s analyze it step by step.

Here Are A Few Points, You Can Notice In Paul Revere’s Picture:

1. First of all, the British captain is instructing his soldiers to shoot the protesters. However, later it was reported that the captain didn’t order his soldiers to attack the protestors. But whatever happened inscribed in the picture spread like fire among colonists.

2. Secondly, Revere showed that the British soldiers were enjoying the murder. You can notice it in the face of the soldier far end smiling like a tyrant. It feels like he was enjoying the murder of innocent people. This made the colonists extremely angry.

3. In the picture, Revere also showed the protesters quite innocent, whom the British soldiers are brutally attacking.

Some of them have been shot in the body lying down on the ground, soaked with blood, some of them trying to help fellow protestors, and some of them are frightened, requesting soldiers to stop attacking.

But despite all these, soldiers are still firing. They are firing so much that the whole place is filled with smoke. This gave birth respect for the protestors and hatred toward British soldiers in the minds of Americans.

4. Paul Revere also shows the dog is frightened and with the color of the sky, he is describing a terrible situation.

5. A sniper is shooting the protestors from Butcher Hall’s 2nd floor. Through the sniper, Revere is trying to show that the murder was pre-planned by the British authority. If that incident had happened accidentally, the sniper would not have been there pointing at the protestors.

So, through these creative descriptions, this picture significantly changed the mindset of colonists, which later years helped to lead the American Revolution.

But again, a question arises in the mind whether all the stuff Revere showed in the picture was true or false.

Did Paul Rever’s Picture Show Everything Genuine?

The Boston Massacre’s picture drawn by Paul Revere significantly turned American Colonists’ attitude against the British Parliament and King George III.

But, the question has always been controversial, whether all the facts he showed through his drawing were true or false.

Here we need to analyze these three points below: 

1. First of all, the controversial fact is – it is still not sure whether Paul Revere was present in that situation or not. If he was there, then it’s okay; but if he was not, how can we believe that all the pieces of stuff his picture trying to express were true? In this scenario, chances are high that he was trying to over-interpretate the situation.

2. Secondly, Revere shows that the protestors are unarmed, frightened, and innocent. But this is not the complete truth at all. Because the protestors also attacked the English soldiers with snowballs, clubs, and stones. He didn’t show it in the picture.

3. The Third fact is, in the picture, the captain is ordering his troops to attack the protestors, but in reality, the captain named Thomas Preston didn’t order his soldiers to do that.

Conclusion

We are not judging, was it wrong or right, necessary or unnecessary?

But these points clearly prove that Paul Revere exaggeratedly publicized the incident among the public.