Existing comment:
Setting the Stage
This map, first published in 1722, captures the density of pre-Revolutionary Boston. The map continued to be updated and this edition from 179 was published after British troops began to occupy the city and one year before the infamous Boston Massacre occurred. Boston was the third largest port in the colonies after Philadelphia and New York. Trade import taxes imposed by Great Britain, along with the presence of British troops, set the stage for an explosive encounter ready to ignite with provocation.
The fateful encounter between the British soldiers and citizens of Boston happened on King Street (now State Street) outside of today's Old State House (shown on this reproduction) on Monday, March 5, 1770. A report at the time recounted: "Tuesday morning presented a most shocking scene, the blood of our fellow-citizens running like water thro' King-street, and the Merchant's Exchange, the principal spot of the military parade for about 18 months past."
William Price. A New Plan of Ye Great Town of Boston in New England in America, with the Many Additionall Buildings, & New Streets, to the Year 1769. Boston, 1769. |