What was the Boston Tea Party?
The Boston Tea Party was a major act of civil disobedience that influenced Americans around the issue of taxation without representation and helped spark the Revolutionary War.
The causes...
There was a series of actions that led up the Boston Tea Party which were the Townshend Acts, Boston massacre, and the Stamp Act.
It all started in 1766, when the Townshend Acts were adopted. This allowed Parliament to tax the colonies on tea, lead, paint, paper, and many other items. In 1770, the Townshend Acts were repealed except for the small tax on tea. The colonials, spurred on by the writings of John Dickinson, Samuel Adams, and others, protested against the taxes. The boycott decreased British trade, and in 1770 most of the Acts were repealed, but retention of the tea tax caused the Boston Tea Party. . "Townshend Acts." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (September 19, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-TwnshdAc.html
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Boston Massacre 1770, after a snowball fight between Bostonians and British troops, growing out of the resentment against the British troops sent to Boston to maintain order and to enforce the Townshend Acts. The troops, constantly tormented by irresponsible gangs, finally (Mar. 5, 1770) fired into a rioting crowd and killed five men—three on the spot, two of wounds later.” Boston Massacre." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (September 20, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-BostMascr.html
The tea act of 1773 helped to expand the British East India Company's monopoly on the tea trade to all British Colonies, selling excess tea at a reduced prices, also giving a tax break to the giant East India Company hurt local Boston tea merchants. Many Colonists opposed the Act, not so much because it rescued the East India Company, but more because it seemed to validate the last remaining duty imposed by the Townshend Acts of 1767, the tea tax. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Act)
The event...
On a cold and damp December 1773 afternoon a small group (about 60) of patriots and young radicals known as, the "Sons of Liberty"-a secret organization of American patriots referred to as "Sons of Violence" and "Sons of Iniquity" by British Loyalists-leave a meeting of protest held in Boston's Old South Meeting House, which Hancock presided. Hancock
Believed that “true patriots would resist a tyrannical majority". That statement got the young and old radicals motivated to resist the occupiers. “it was now evening and the patriots begun to
Dress themselves as “Indians” equipped with small hatchets, pistols, tomahawk, and clubs after having painted their faces and hands with coal dust from the shop of a blacksmith, they marched to Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea”…. (Eyewitness1). “From there they arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships which contained the tea at the same time”… (Eyewitness1).
As the patriots boarded the ships they ordered the captain and crew to open the hatchways. The men started hoisting out the boxes and emptying their contents into the dock,
Every chest (about 342) on board the three vessels was knocked to pieces and flung over the sides. They were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist them. Just as the men came they left into the night as heroes. (Eyewitness 1, 2)
The aftermath…
The British enacted many new “laws” the Intolerable Acts, as they were known in America were four new acts design to stifle business in Massachusetts, such as the Boston Port Bill closed the port until such time as the East India Company should be paid for the tea destroyed. Other acts changed the royal charter of Massachusetts; provided for the quartering of troops. The Massachusetts Government Act, which brought the government of Massachusetts under the power of Great Britain; was the main law most protested and objection from the colonists. "Intolerable Acts." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (September 21, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Intolera.html
References:
"Intolerable Acts." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (September 21, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Intolera.html
. "Townshend Acts." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (September 19, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-TwnshdAc.html
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (September 20, 201
"The Boston Tea Party, 1773," EyeWitness to History, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2002)
