Saturday, February 1, 2014

I'm having problems writing a thesis statement on the Boston Massacre. Can anyone help me?

Without knowing your purpose, it is difficult to direct you on your thesis statement.  However, here are a few suggestions:


If you are writing about the causes, you could ask a question in the introduction such as How did a wig and a rock effect a tragic event in American history?  (As you know, the Massacre began after a wigmaker's apprentice, Edward Gerrish, called out to a British officer, Captain Lieutenant John Goldfinch, that he had not paid his master's bill; and, another fatal incident occurred a few days before the Boston Massacre when Christopher Seiden was shot on February 22, 1770, when a fight began between an angry mob and British royalists who threw rocks at the shop of a Loyalist merchant.)  Then, formulate a thesis of three important points (if you are writing the 5 paragraph essay) on the idea of odd occurrences as the causes of the Boston Massacre.


Or, if you are writing a descriptive essay, you could write a thesis about facts that are not commonly known about the Massacre such as the unusual outcome of the trial of two British regulars whose defense centered upon 'benefit of the clergy'; they were proven to be able to read the Bible and their charge was changed from murder to manslaughter.  However, they were stamped with an "M" to prevent further such cases.  Review the site below for more unusual facts.


Certainly, this massacre is one of those historical events about which Leo Tolstoy wrote in the latter part of his great book, "War and Peace."  Tolstoy reflects upon how events occur not because of anything, but simply as a human reaction to sometimes unrelated forces outside or some unified force within themselves.  Perhaps, it is the "tide in the affairs of men" of which Brutus speaks in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" (Iv,iii,217) that causes such historical events.

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