American Revolution/Don't tread on me!
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The Boston Tea Party was a protest by American colonists (called "patriots") against King George III's rule in colonial America. It happened on December 16, 1773.
Specifically, the Boston Tea Party was a protest against the British colonial government for the Tea Act. This was one of several new taxes the British government had imposed on the American colonies.
Because they had no one to speak for them in the British government, the colonists were paying taxes but had no part in how the government was run. They argued that there should be "no taxation without representation" - meaning they should not have to pay taxes when they did not have a representative in the government. The taxes also reduced merchants' profits. Colonists began purchasing smuggled goods, which were much cheaper.
On the evening of December 16, 1773, several ships in Boston Harbor were holding tea imported from the British East India Company. Anyone who bought this tea would have to pay the new British tax. In protest, the Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams, boarded the ships and dumped the boxes of tea into the harbor. They disguised themselves as Native Americans for the protest.
The British government was enraged. Parliament passed even stricter laws for the colonies, later called the Intolerable Acts. One of these laws, the Boston Port Act, closed Boston Harbor until the colonists paid for all the tea they dumped. Another, the Massachusetts Government Act, took away Boston's right to govern itself.[1]
Interactive Exercises
Why tea?
After the costly Seven Years' War the British government believed the colonies should pay more to covering their own defense costs.
Tea was chosen because it was a popular and widely consumed commodity, ensuring steady tax revenue. Additionally, tea was a symbol of British culture and trade, controlled by the East India Company, making it a strategic item to tax. Unlike other products, tea was already subject to import duties under the Townshend Acts, but the Tea Act of 1773 allowed the British to sell tea directly to the colonies at a lower price, bypassing colonial merchants. While this reduced the overall price of tea, it reinforced the British authority to impose taxes, which angered many colonists who saw it as "taxation without representation." This led to protests, including the famous Boston Tea Party in 1773.
References
- ↑ Source: Boston Tea Party (simple.wikipedia.org)
