The main cause of the Boston Massacre in 1770 was escalating tensions between American colonists and British soldiers stationed in Boston. After years of growing resentment due to taxation without representation and various British policies, including the Townshend Acts, animosity flared when British troops were seen as an occupying force. On March 5, a confrontation erupted between colonists protesting the British presence and soldiers; as tensions escalated, British troops fired into the crowd, killing five civilians. The incident fueled anti-British sentiment and became a rallying point for those advocating independence, effectively igniting revolutionary fervor that would culminate in the American Revolution.