John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father's Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial
John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father's Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial
by Dan Abrams (Narrator), David Fisher (Contributor), Roger Wayne (Narrator)
History remembers John Adams as a Founding Father and our country's second president. But in the tense years before the American Revolution, he was still just a lawyer, fighting for justice in one of the most explosive murder trials of the era.
On the night of March 5, 1770, shots were fired by British soldiers on the streets of Boston, killing five civilians. The Boston Massacre has often been called the first shots of the American Revolution. As John Adams would later remember, "On that night the formation of American independence was born". Yet when the British soldiers faced trial, the young lawyer Adams was determined that they receive a fair one. He volunteered to represent them, keeping the peace in a powder keg of a colony, and in the process created some of the foundations of what would become United States law.
In this book, 'New York Times' best-selling authors, Dan Abrams and David Fisher draw on the trial transcript, using Adams' own words to transport listeners to colonial Boston, a city roiling with rebellion, where British military forces and American colonists live side by side, waiting for the spark that would start a war.
RUNNING TIME ➼ 9hrs. and 52mins.
I really enjoyed this book. The narration was well done. Roger Wayne made it easy to distinguish quotes from the different witnesses and the lawyers.
It did drag a little at the end. Those closing statements were long.
I learned a lot of new facts about the events surrounding the Boston Massacre and about John Adams. I also learned some historic tidbits too, mostly about the laws, juries, insults, and that Sam Adams wrote under the pseudonym Vindex. It was also the longest trial in colonial history.
Transcripts weren't taken of trials back then, but these trials were an exception. The transcript of Preston's trial was sent to England and never made public. Others and Preston himself took notes.
What I gather from the conflicting testimonies from the 50 witnesses called is that the a mob of civilians incited violence with sticks and throwing snowballs. Someone, (most likely Montgomery) shouted "fire" (after he was knocked to the ground). That set off the other officer (officers?) to fire too. It was chaotic and tragic. "Mobs will never do" was one of my favorite quotes at the end.
I came away with a whole lot of respect for John Adams. He lost business as a lawyer and it damaged his reputation because he defended the British officers. But it took courage to defend the rule of law. And! He was never paid by the Crown for his service, nor did Preston ever thank him.
4 out of 5 Muskets.
by Dan Abrams (Narrator), David Fisher (Contributor), Roger Wayne (Narrator)
History remembers John Adams as a Founding Father and our country's second president. But in the tense years before the American Revolution, he was still just a lawyer, fighting for justice in one of the most explosive murder trials of the era.
On the night of March 5, 1770, shots were fired by British soldiers on the streets of Boston, killing five civilians. The Boston Massacre has often been called the first shots of the American Revolution. As John Adams would later remember, "On that night the formation of American independence was born". Yet when the British soldiers faced trial, the young lawyer Adams was determined that they receive a fair one. He volunteered to represent them, keeping the peace in a powder keg of a colony, and in the process created some of the foundations of what would become United States law.
In this book, 'New York Times' best-selling authors, Dan Abrams and David Fisher draw on the trial transcript, using Adams' own words to transport listeners to colonial Boston, a city roiling with rebellion, where British military forces and American colonists live side by side, waiting for the spark that would start a war.
RUNNING TIME ➼ 9hrs. and 52mins.
I really enjoyed this book. The narration was well done. Roger Wayne made it easy to distinguish quotes from the different witnesses and the lawyers.
It did drag a little at the end. Those closing statements were long.
I learned a lot of new facts about the events surrounding the Boston Massacre and about John Adams. I also learned some historic tidbits too, mostly about the laws, juries, insults, and that Sam Adams wrote under the pseudonym Vindex. It was also the longest trial in colonial history.
Transcripts weren't taken of trials back then, but these trials were an exception. The transcript of Preston's trial was sent to England and never made public. Others and Preston himself took notes.
What I gather from the conflicting testimonies from the 50 witnesses called is that the a mob of civilians incited violence with sticks and throwing snowballs. Someone, (most likely Montgomery) shouted "fire" (after he was knocked to the ground). That set off the other officer (officers?) to fire too. It was chaotic and tragic. "Mobs will never do" was one of my favorite quotes at the end.
I came away with a whole lot of respect for John Adams. He lost business as a lawyer and it damaged his reputation because he defended the British officers. But it took courage to defend the rule of law. And! He was never paid by the Crown for his service, nor did Preston ever thank him.
4 out of 5 Muskets.