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Primary sourcePainting1770

The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Bloody Massacre

Henry Pelham · 1770

Henry Pelham's 1770 engraving of the Boston Massacre, which Paul Revere copied without credit for his own faster-selling print.

Pelham's original design was copied by Revere without credit, making this print central to understanding Revere's own famous Massacre engraving.

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Hand-colored engraving titled 'The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King-Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.' British soldiers in red coats fire muskets into a crowd before a brick building with a steeple. Smoke fills the street and several people lie on the ground, one bleeding. A dog stands near the bottom. Verse text and a list of the killed run along the bottom.
Henry Pelham, The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Bloody Massacre, 1770. American Antiquarian Society.

About this source

What it is

This 1770 engraving by Henry Pelham depicts the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, showing British soldiers firing into a crowd of colonists. It is held by the American Antiquarian Society.

Why it matters

Pelham lent a copy of his design to Paul Revere, who copied it and released his own version under his own name three weeks after the massacre, a week before Pelham's print went on sale, without crediting Pelham. Comparing the two prints shows how quickly political images could spread and be copied in colonial Boston, and how image-making became a tool of Patriot propaganda.

Look closer

  • What does it mean that Revere's copy reached buyers before Pelham's original?
  • Why might speed and credit have mattered so much to engravers at this moment?
  • How does an image like this shape public feeling about an event compared to a written account?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Paul Revere on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Hand-colored engraving titled 'The Bloody Massacre' showing British redcoat soldiers firing volleys of musket smoke at a crowd in King Street, Boston, with bodies on the ground and a Town House building in the background. Verse text and a caption appear below.Painting

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