Date: March 5, 1772
“In young and new formed communities, the grand design of this institution is most generally understood, and most strictly regarded; the motives which urged to the social compact, cannot be at once forgotten, and that equality which is remembered to have subsisted so lately among them, prevents those who are clothed with authority from attempting to invade the freedom of their brethren… [E}very member feels it to be his interest, and knows it to be his duty, to preserve inviolate the constitution on which the public safely depends.
It was this noble attachment to a free constitution, which raised ancient Rome from the smallest beginnings, to that bright summit of happiness and glory to which she arrived; and it was the loss of this which plunged her from that summit, into the black gulf of infamy and slavery. It was this attachment which inspired her senators with wisdom; it was this which glowed in the breasts of her heroes; it was this which guarded her liberties, and extended her dominions, gave peace at home, and commanded, respect abroad; and when this degenerated into tyrants and oppressors; her senators forgetful of their dignity, and seduced by base corruption, betrayed their country… Thus this empress of the world lost her dominions abroad, and her inhabitants, dissolute in their manners, at length became contented slaves. PUBLIC HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON A VIRTUOUS AND UNSHAKEN ATTACHMENT TO A FREE CONSTITUTION.
It was this attachment to a constitution… which inspired the first settlers of this country… When they came to this new world, which they fairly purchased of the Indian natives, the only rightful proprietors, they cultivated the then barren soil, by their incessant labour, and defended their dear bought possessions with the fortitude of the Christian, and the bravery of the hero.
After various struggles… the connection between Great Britain and this colony was settled in the reign of King William and Queen Mary, by a compact, the conditions of which… liberties and immunities of British subjects… were confined to this province as fully and as absolutely as they possibly could be by any human instrument which can be devised. [T]he greatest and most important right of a British subject is, that he shall be governed by no laws but those to which he either in person or by his representative hath given his consent… [This] is the grand basis of British freedom; it is interwoven with the constitution; and whenever this is lost, the constitution must be destroyed…
I am very much at loss to know by what figure of rhetoric, the inhabitants of this province can be called FREE SUBJECTS, when they are obliged to obey implicitly such laws as are made for them by men three thousand miles off, whom they know not, and whom they never have empowered to act for them; or how they can be said to have PROPERTY when a body of men over whom they have not the least control… shall oblige them to deliver up any part, or the whole of their substance, without even asking their consent… Certainly it never entered the hearts of our ancestors, that after so many dangers in this then desolate wilderness, their hard earned property should be at the disposal of the British Parliament… [A] standing army was established among us in a time of peace… for the enforcement of obedience…
Their baneful influence is most suddenly felt, when they are placed in populous cities; for by a corruption of morals, the public happiness is immediately affected and that this is one of the effects of quartering troops in a populous city, is a truth, to which many a mourning parent, many a lost, despairing child in this metropolis must bear a very melancholy testimony. Soldiers are also taught to consider arms as the only arbiters by which every dispute is to be decided between contending states; they are instructed implicitly to obey their commanders, without inquiring into the justice of the cause they are engaged to support: hence it is, that they are ever to be dreaded as the ready engines of tyranny and oppression. [W]e, my fellow-citizens, have seen, we have felt the tragical effects! THE FATAL FIFTH OF MARCH, 1770, CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN…
Language is too feeble to paint the emotions of our souls, when our streets were stained with the BLOOD OF OUR BRETHERN; when our ears were wounded by the groans of the dying, and our eyes were tormented with the sight of the mangled bodies of the dead…When we beheld the authors of our distress parading in our streets or drawn up in a regular battalia, as though in a hostile city, our hearts beat to arms; we snatched our weapons, almost resolved, by one decisive stroke, to avenge the death of our SLAUGHTERED BRETHERN… The thoughts of vengeance were soon buried in our inbred affection to Great Britain, and calm reason dictated a method of removing the troops more mild than an immediate recourse to the sword. [R]emoval of the troops was effected, without one drop of their blood being shed by the inhabitants…
The… men who have promiscuously scattered death amidst the innocent inhabitants of a popular city, ought to see well to it that they be prepared to stand at the bar of an omniscient Judge!
…I really cannot surmise; even leaving justice and humanity out of the question, I do not know one single advantage which can arise to the British nation, from our being enslaved… [S]urely the British nation will not suffer the reputation of their justice and their honour, to be thus sported away by a capricious ministry… [T]hey nourish in their own breasts, a noble love of liberty; they hold her dear, and they know that all who have once possessed her charms, had rather die than suffer her to be torn from their embraces; they are also sensible that Britain is so deeply interested in the prosperity of the colonies, that she must eventually feel every wound given to their freedom; they cannot be ignorant that more dependence may be placed on the affections of a brother, than on the forced service of a slave; they must approve your efforts for the preservation of your rights;…
I am confident that you never will betray the least want of spirit when called upon to guard your freedom. None but they who set a just value upon the blessings of liberty are worthy to enjoy her, your illustrious fathers were her zealous votaries; when the blasting frowns of tyranny drove her from public view, they clasped her in their arms, they cherished her in their generous bosoms, they brought her safe over the rough ocean, and fixed her seat in this then dreary wilderness; they nursed her infant age with the most tender care; for her sake, they patiently bore the severest hardships; for her support, they underwent the most rugged toils: in her defence, they boldly encountered the most alarming dangers; neither the ravenous beasts that ranged the woods for prey, nor the more furious savages of the wilderness, could damp their ardour! Whilst with one hand they broke the stubborn glebe, with the other they grasped their weapons, ever ready to protect her from danger. No sacrifice, not even their own blood, was esteemed too rich a libation for her altar! God prospered their valour; they preserved her brilliancy unsullied; they enjoyed her whilst they lived, and dying, bequeathed the dear inheritance to your care. And as they left you this glorious legacy, they have undoubtedly transmitted to you some portion of their noble spirit, to inspire you with virtue to merit her, and courage to preserve her: you surely cannot, with such examples before our eyes, as every page of the history of this country affords, suffer your liberties to be ravished from you by lawless force, or cajoled away by flattery and fraud.
The voice of your fathers’ blood cries to you from the ground; MY SONS SCORN TO BE SLAVES! Stain not the glory of your worthy ancestors; but like them resolve, never to part with your birthright; be wise in your deliberations, and determined in your exertions for the preservation of your liberties…
If you… perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence that THE SAME ALMIGHTY BEING who protected your pious and venerable forefathers, who enabled them to turn a barren wilderness into a fruitful field, who so often made bare his arms for their salvation, will still be mindful of you their offspring…
May we ever be a people favoured of GOD. May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name and praise in the whole earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world in one common undistinguished ruin!”
Source: Warren, Joseph. An Oration Delivered March 5th, 1772. At the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston; to Commemorate the Bloody Tragedy of the Fifth of March, 1770. 2nd ed. Boston: Edes and Gill by order of the town of Boston, 1772. Reprinted many times both during the Revolutionary era and in collections of the Massacre Orations through the mid-nineteenth century. This abridged version, posted by me today, includes highlights and memorable phrasing.
Commentary: Joseph Warren’s aspirational view for America as “a land of Liberty, seat of virtue” set a high bar for Patriot activism.
He delivered the speech on the second anniversary of the outbreak of violence between occupying British troops and rowdy street protesters. Boston’s Old South Meeting House hosted Warren’s commemorative orations in 1772 and 1775, Benjamin Church’s in 1773, and John Hancock’s in 1774.
The modern illustration, by web comic artist Lora Innes, depicts Joseph Warren’s toga-clad dramatic delivery of the 1775 Boston Massacre Oration. The realistically depicted episode figures prominently in her historical fiction The Dreamer. No period images of any of the Revolutionary era Boston Massacre commemorative orations are known to exist.
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