Boston Massacre: Short Paper

This assignment is due in section the week of April 19. It is the second of two assignments that deal with the interpretation of historical events. If you did not write the first event paper (King Philip’s War), you must write this assignment.

Assignment:
Al Young has argued that whether or not ordinary persons get remembered has a lot to do with the political values of the keepers of the past. As an example he mentions the long controversy in the nineteenth century over the memorialization of the Boston “Massacre.” But as the readings for this week demonstrate, there were competing interpretations of the events in King Street even at the time.

To what extent was the nineteenth-century controversy an extension of eighteenth-century conflicts and in what ways was it new?

Write a well-organized 3-4 page essay in which you address these questions. Your paper must have a clearly stated argument supported by specific references to the texts. For each citation, give page numbers from the course reader in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

Your paper should be typed, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins, and 12 point font.  It should be handed in during section the week of April 19.

Assignments are due in section in the week of April 17-23.