Which event involved an angry Boston mob at the Customs House, leading guards to fire into the crowd and kill five people?

• A. Boston Tea Party 1773
• B. Continental Congress 1774
• C. Stamp Act protest
• D. Boston Massacre 1770

Answer: (D)

This event centers on how mounting colonial anger and a heavy-handed British presence collided in Boston in early 1770. After Parliament’s Townshend Acts, troops were stationed in the city to enforce authority and quell protests. On a tense night near the Customs House, a mob of colonists challenged the soldiers. The confrontation escalated and the guards fired into the crowd, killing five people. One of those killed, Crispus Attucks, is often remembered as a symbol of colonial resistance. The incident amplified anti-British sentiment and became powerful propaganda for those seeking independence, helping to push the colonists toward a broader revolutionary movement. It differs from the Boston Tea Party, which happened later as a protest against the Tea Act, from the Continental Congress, a political assembly in 1774, and from the Stamp Act protests, which targeted a different tax and occurred earlier.