[Peace-discuss] [Peace] Organize!

[Carl G. Estabrook]

In the days of an increasingly lawless and murderous administration - presided over by a former teacher of law who has no trouble ignoring legal rights, from Awlaki to Manning - we should reflect on the notions of law and legal procedures in the American tradition. The Zimmerman killing perhaps bears comparison with the Boston Massacre:

"The Boston Massacre was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers killed five civilian men and injured six others. British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid ongoing tense relations between the population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was subjected to verbal abuse and harassment. He was eventually supported by eight additional soldiers, who were subjected to verbal threats and thrown objects. They fired into the crowd, without orders, instantly killing three people and wounding others. Two more people died later of wounds sustained in the incident...

"Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder. Defended by the lawyer and future American President, John Adams, six of the soldiers were acquitted, while the other two were convicted of manslaughter and given reduced sentences…

"Depictions, reports, and propaganda about the event, notably the colored engraving produced by Paul Revere, further heightened tensions throughout the Thirteen Colonies. The event is widely viewed as foreshadowing the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War five years later."

John Adams wrote in 1773, 

"The part I took in defence of Cptn. Preston and the soldiers procured me anxiety, and obloquy enough. It was, however, 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. Judgment of death against those soldiers would have been as foul a stain upon this country as the executions of the Quakers or witches, anciently. As the evidence was, the verdict of the jury was exactly right.

"This however is no reason why the town should not call the action of that night a massacre, nor is it any argument in favour of the governor or minister who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest proofs of the danger of standing armies."

--CGE
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