John Adams took a position of defending the soldiers and according to him the soldiers could not be judged as guilty. John Adams thought that since the soldiers were attacked, they too had the right to fight back. He described the soldiers as one who fought for a fair justice system, they had to competently defend the justice systems by fighting back and therefore Adams later referred to them as patriots (York 2010). However much he knew that defending the British soldiers would be dangerous, his exact motivations for defending them could not be known. He strongly believed that the men should be entitled to a fair trial.

Thomas Preston was a British captain who most at times was responsible for calling in reinforcements for the British Soldiers. His major influence was seen in his fight during the revolutionary war where he was accused for ordering soldiers to fire and attack the crowd. He took defense of the soldiers by directing most activities of the soldiers’ wand also giving them weapons to support themselves (York 2010). Just like John Adams defended the soldiers, Thomas Preston also supported British soldiers activities proving their innocence even though he was on trial. He was a patriot who agreed to be in charge of the British army and in control of its activities.

I believe Adams motivations for supporting the British soldiers cannot be known. However, I think he strongly brought out the point that British soldiers indeed needed to defend themselves. Since the crowd initiated the fight, British soldiers were just right to act in their defense (York 2010). He was also successful in arguing that Preston did not give orders to fight the crowd and that his soldiers were simply provoked by the crowd and their actions were in relation to self-defense. He wanted a just society and not a society that is quick to perform judgments without looking at both parties and their flaws.