John Adams’s Integrity and the Boston Massacre

In this new installment of ‘When Character Counted,’ attorney John Adams risked the loss of his reputation and livelihood in his passion for justice.

John Adams, in this circa 1766 portrait by Benjamin Blyth, was a lawyer before his career in government. Public Domain

By early 1770, Boston had become a powder keg of revolutionary radicalism. Only a match was needed to blow up relations between the city and King George’s government in London.

On the cold evening of March 5, that match was lit. Caught up in an argument, a British guard outside the Custom House struck an apprentice with his rifle butt. Soon, a mob had assembled, small at first, then growing into a crowd of several hundred. Officer of the day Capt. Thomas Preston brought out seven soldiers as reinforcements. By then, the mob was hurling curses and insults like “lobsterbacks” at the soldiers, along with stones, chunks of ice, snowballs, and sticks. The soldiers then responded by firing their muskets at their attackers.

When the smoke cleared, three men lay dead, and another eight were struck down, two of whom would soon die of their wounds.

In the wake of what Samuel Adams and his Sons of Liberty would call the “Boston Massacre,” Acting Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson calmed any escalation of tensions by promising justice for the dead. Capt. Preston and his eight soldiers were arrested for murder, and the London government was assured they would receive a fair trial. Here the difficulty was providing representation for the Redcoats, with some lawyers, fearing ruin, refusing to step onto this battleground of law.

“The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5, 1770,” a copper engraving by Paul Revere modeled on a drawing by Henry Pelham, 1770. Public Domain

Thirty-four-year-old John Adams along with two other attorneys, Josiah Quincy and Robert Auchmuty, proved the exceptions to this reluctance. Herein lies an irony of history, for Adams and Quincy belonged to the Sons of Liberty, yet both men put law and justice above their politics. Both believed as well that, by taking this course of action, history would eventually recognize their decision as righteous.

With popular opinion largely against them, the lawyers faced the ordeal of two trials in the autumn of that year, one for Captain Preston and another for his men. Conducted in late October, Preston’s trial required proof that he had never given the command to fire. Adams provided enough evidence supporting Preston’s case so as to create doubt in the jurors’ minds. While doing so, he reminded the court of a principle that yet remains central to American law today, “It is better that five guilty persons go unpunished, than one innocent person should die.”

The December trials of the soldiers required greater nuance and dexterity with the jury. Adams and Quincy—Auchmuty had by then left their team—needed to demonstrate that the soldiers had fired in self-defense. Witnesses and depositions gave a mixed account of the March 5 confrontation, yet Adams skillfully argued not only that the eight soldiers had felt their lives threatened by the mob, but also that some blame for this incident lay in Great Britain’s unpopular decision to quarter British troops in Boston. Six of the soldiers were acquitted outright; the remaining two were convicted of manslaughter and received a brand, “M,” on their hand rather than serve time in prison.

Published material pertaining to the trial of the British soldiers in relation to the Boston Massacre. Library of Congress

It was during this trial that Adams famously said to the jury, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

Adams paid a price for his part in this trial. He estimated that he lost about half of his legal practice, though as people grasped the nobility of his stand for justice, the number of his clients grew again.

There were also threats against him and his family. Later, he described telling his wife Abigail about his worries: “The excellent Lady, who has always encouraged me, burst into a flood of Tears, but said she was very sensible of all the Danger to her and to our Children as well as to me, but she thought I had done as I ought, she was very willing to share in all that was to come and place her trust in Providence.” As was true throughout their marriage, strong bonds of love and principle were key to this union of husband and wife.

Abigail Adams, by Benjamin Blyth, circa 1766. Public Domain

This case plus Adams’s courage and ardor for justice bore a multitude of far-reaching results. It elevated the idea that laws, rather than men, best govern a society. It strongly reinforced the idea of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. It did the same for self-defense and for the importance of reason over emotion in a court of law. It strengthened the idea that all charged in a court of law have a right to an attorney. It likely had an effect on the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, which underscores the right to a fair trial.

With the outbreak of war with Britain in 1775, Adams embarked on a journey that won him fame and a permanent place in the American pantheon. He nominated Washington to be commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, had a role in the writing of the Declaration of Independence, was a diplomat to France, helped write the Treaty of Paris that ended the war with Britain, and became both vice president and president of the new nation.

Despite all these accomplishments, John Adams later described that long-ago trial in a Boston courtroom as “one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country.”

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