The Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, was a catalyst toward the American Revolution. Five civilians were killed by the British soldiers. The Declaration of Independence, in condemning the offenses against liberty by George III, stated:

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction  foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states

Indeed, the top expert on the militarization of America's police forces ? Washington Post writer Radley Balko, who has testified to Congress and written books on the subject ? confirms that the Founders would have seen the militarized police as an unconstitutional standing army: