Boston Tea Party
When and where did it happen?
On the cold evening of December 16, 1773, a large band of patriots, disguised as Mohawk Indians, burst from the South Meeting House with the spirit of freedom burning in their eyes. The patriots headed towards Griffin's Wharf and the three ships. Quickly, quietly, and in an orderly manner, the Sons of Liberty boarded each of the tea ships. Once on board, the patriots went to work striking the chests with axes and hatchets. Thousands of spectators watched in silence. Only the sounds of ax blades splitting wood rang out from BostonHarbor. Once the crates are open, the patriots dumped the tea into the sea.
The silence was broken only by the cry of "East Indian" as patriots caught Charles O'Conner filling the lining of his coat with tea. George Hewes removed O'Connor's coat, threatened him with death if he revealed the identity of any man present, and sent him scurrying out of town. The patriots work feverishly, fearing an attack by Admiral Montague at any moment. By nine o'clock p.m., the Sons of Liberty had emptied a total of 342 crates of tea into BostonHarbor. Fearing any connection to their treasonous deed, the patriots took off their shoes and shook them overboard. They swept the ships' decks, and made each ship's first mate attest that only the tea was damaged.
Who attended the party?
Protest against the tea Act took place all over the colonies. In Charleston, South Carolina colonists blocked tea ships from landing. In Boston, the Sons of Liberty organized a group of people under the leadership of Samuel Adams.
On the evening of December 16, 1773, three companies of fifty men each, masquerading as Mohawk Indians, passed through a tremendous crowd of spectators, went aboard the three ships, broke open the tea chests, and heaved them into the harbor. As the electrifying news of the Boston "tea party" spread, other seaports followed the example and staged similar acts of resistance of their own.
One of the men who took part in Boston Tea Party was George Hewes, who was a shoemaker in Boston, and his words were later quoted in history discribing the events in detail.
The patriots found an effective leadership under Samuel Adams of Massachusetts. He toild tirelessly for independence From the time he graduated from HarvardCollege, Adams was a public servant in some capacity-inspector of chimneys, tax-collector, moderator of town meetings. A consistent failure in business, he was shrewd and able in politics, with the New England town meeting the theater of his action. Adam's tools were men: his goal was to win the confidence and support of ordinary people, to free them from awe of their social and political superiors, make them aware of their own importance, and arouse them to action. To do this, he published articles in newspapers and made speeches in town meetings, instigating resolutions appealing to the colonists' democratic impulses.
What Caused the Boston Tea party?
The colonies had resentment towards British government following the Tea Act. To fully understand the resentment of the colonies to Great Britain and King George III, one must understand that this was not the first time that the colonists were treated unfairly. In previous years, the 13 colonies saw a number of commercial tariffs including the Sugar Act of 1764, which taxed sugar, coffee, and wine, the Stamp Act of 1765, which put a tax on all printed matter, such as newspapers and playing cards, and the Townshend Acts of 1767 which placed taxes on items like glass, paints, paper, and tea. The Tea Act of 1773 was the last straw.
However the immediate cause was the Tea Act. In 1773, Britain's East India Company was sitting on large stocks of tea that it could not sell in England. It was on the verge of bankruptcy. In an effort to save it, the government passed the Tea Act of 1773, which gave the company the right to export its merchandise directly to the colonies without paying any of the regular taxes that were imposed on the colonial merchants, who had traditionally served as the middlemen in such transactions. With these privileges, the company could undersell American merchants and monopolize the colonial tea trade. The act proved inflammatory for several reasons.
(1) It angered influential colonial merchants, who feared being replaced and bankrupted by a powerful monopoly.
(2)The Tea Act revived American passions about the issue of taxation without representation./
What Happened as a Result?
The Boston Tea party had aroused fury in Britain. King George III declared,"we must master them or totally leave them to themselves and treat them as aliens". To let off the colonies was hard therefore Brtain dicided to master the colonies by passing many strick regulations.
In 1774, Parliament passed series of laws to punish the Massachussetts colony and to serve as a warning to other colonies. The British called these laws the Coercive Acts. But the colonists called them Intolarable Acts.
One of the acts would close the port of Boston until colonist paid for the destroyed tea. Others banned committees of corespondence, allowed Britain to house troops wherever necessary, and let British officials accused of crimes in the colonies stand trial in Britain. When all was through, Lendall Pitts led the patriots from the wharf, tomahawks and axes resting on their shoulders. A fife played as they marched past the home where British Admiral Montague had been spying on their work. Montague yelled as they past, "Well boys, you have had a fine, pleasant evening for your Indian caper, haven't you? But mind, you have got to pay the fiddler yet!" Montague's words were to be an omen for the patriots. The party was indeed over for Boston.
Boston Tea Party
Following the Seven Years War (1756-1763), England went through a serious financial crisis as a result of which it was obliged to impose taxes on many products. Among them in particular were goods destined for the colonies, including wine, sugar, molasses, and tea. The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, and a little later the Townshend Act enunciated these taxes, setting off a huge wave of protest. The colonists distributed tracts and organized a boycott campaign. Many newspapers published a declaration renouncing tea. The colonists replaced tea with infusions of local herbs or berries, with coffee, or with contraband tea imported mostly by Dutch merchants.
Merchants in the colonies refused to buy from the East India Company. Even though the Tea Act of 1773 reduced taxes, the agitation continued. The East India Company decided to export cargoes of tea to America, intended for sale directly to the colonists, without going through the merchants. In December, three of the company's ships, the Dartmouth, Eleonor, and the Beaver reached port in Boston. During the night of December 16, a group of 150 patriots led by the merchant John Brown, took the boats by force and threw their cargo into the sea. In return, London forbade all commerce with Boston. The other American cities joined in a united front, burning or throwing into the sea other English cargoes of tea. The stakes grew as skirmishes escalated into battles, and the United States ended up winning their independence in 1776.
It goes without saying that tea is not responsible for the independence of the United States. Nevertheless, tea was seen as a symbol of the intolerable relationship between colonies and mother country. After independence, many Americans remained faithful to coffee, and the consumption of tea would never again reach the levels attained in the preceding era.
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