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The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing "tax without representation," dumped 342 chests of tea, imported past the British Due east India Company into the harbor. The effect was the offset major human action of defiance to British rule over the colonists. It showed Great Britain that Americans wouldn't have taxation and tyranny sitting down, and rallied American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight for independence.

Why Did the Boston Tea Political party Happen?

In the 1760s, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland was deep in debt, then British Parliament imposed a series of taxes on American colonists to aid pay those debts.

The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed colonists on near every piece of printed paper they used, from playing cards and concern licenses to newspapers and legal documents. The Townshend Acts of 1767 went a step farther, taxing essentials such as paint, paper, drinking glass, lead and tea.

The British government felt the taxes were off-white since much of its debt was earned fighting wars on the colonists' behalf.  The colonists, still, disagreed. They were furious at being taxed without having any representation in Parliament, and felt it was wrong for Britain to impose taxes on them to proceeds revenue.

READ More than: 7 Events That Enraged Colonists and Led to the American Revolution

Boston Massacre Enrages Colonists

On March 5, 1770, a street brawl happened in Boston between American colonists and British soldiers.

Later known as the Boston Massacre, the fight began afterward an unruly group of colonists—frustrated with the presence of British soldiers in their streets—flung snowballs, ice and oyster shells at a British sentinel guarding the Boston Customs House.

Reinforcements arrived and opened burn down on the mob, killing five colonists and wounding vi. The Boston Massacre and its fallout farther incited the colonists' rage towards Britain.

Tea Act Imposed

Britain eventually repealed the taxes it had imposed on the colonists except the tea tax. It wasn't nearly to give upward taxation revenue on the near 1.2 one thousand thousand pounds of tea the colonists drank each twelvemonth.

In protestation, the colonists boycotted tea sold by British East Republic of india Company and smuggled in Dutch tea, leaving British Due east India Company with millions of pounds of surplus tea and facing bankruptcy.

In May 1773, British Parliament passed the Tea Human activity which allowed British East India Company to sell tea to the colonies duty-costless and much cheaper than other tea companies—simply still taxation the tea when information technology reached colonial ports.

Tea smuggling in the colonies increased, although the cost of the smuggled tea soon surpassed that of tea from British East India Visitor with the added tea tax.

Still, with the help of prominent tea smugglers such equally John Hancock and Samuel Adams —who protested revenue enhancement without representation but too wanted to protect their tea smuggling operations—colonists continued to rail confronting the tea revenue enhancement and Britain's command over their interests.

Sons of Freedom

The Sons of Liberty were a group of colonial merchants and tradesmen founded to protest the Postage stamp Act and other forms of tax. The group of revolutionists included prominent patriots such every bit Bridegroom Arnold, Patrick Henry and Paul Revere, as well as Adams and Hancock.

Led by Adams, the Sons of Liberty held meetings rallying against British Parliament and protested the Griffin'due south Wharf inflow of Dartmouth, a British East India Company ship conveying tea. By Dec 16, 1773, Dartmouth had been joined by her sister ships, Beaver and Eleanor; all three ships loaded with tea from People's republic of china.

That morning, as thousands of colonists convened at the wharf and its surrounding streets, a meeting was held at the Onetime South Meeting Business firm where a big group of colonists voted to refuse to pay taxes on the tea or let the tea to exist unloaded, stored, sold or used. (Ironically, the ships were built in America and owned by Americans.)

Governor Thomas Hutchison refused to allow the ships to return to Britain and ordered the tea tariff exist paid and the tea unloaded. The colonists refused, and Hutchison never offered a satisfactory compromise.

READ More than: Who Were the Sons of Liberty?

What Happened at the Boston Tea Political party?

Gyre to Continue

That night, a large group of men—many reportedly members of the Sons of Liberty— disguised themselves in Native American garb, boarded the docked ships and threw 342 chests of tea into the h2o.

Said participant George Hewes, "Nosotros then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and accept out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and nosotros immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the h2o."

Hewes too noted that "We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist united states of america."

Boston Tea Party Aftermath

While some of import colonist leaders such as John Adams were thrilled to learn Boston Harbor was covered in tea leaves, others were not.

In June of 1774, George Washington wrote: "the crusade of Boston…always will be considered equally the cause of America." But his personal views of the event were far unlike. He voiced stiff disapproval of "their behave in destroying the Tea" and claimed Bostonians "were mad." Washington, similar many other elites, held individual property to be sacrosanct.

Benjamin Franklin insisted the British East Bharat Company exist reimbursed for the lost tea and fifty-fifty offered to pay for information technology himself.

No ane was hurt, and aside from the devastation of the tea and a padlock, no holding was damaged or looted during the Boston Tea Political party. The participants reportedly swept the ships' decks clean before they left.

Who Organized the Boston Tea Party?

Though led by Samuel Adams and his Sons of Liberty and organized by John Hancock, the names of many of those involved in the Boston Tea Party remain unknown. Thanks to their Native American costumes, only i of the tea party culprits, Francis Akeley, was arrested and imprisoned.

Even after American independence, participants refused to reveal their identities, fearing they could however face civil and criminal charges every bit well as condemnation from elites for the destruction of individual property. Most participants in the Boston Tea Party were nether the historic period of 40 and sixteen of them were teenagers.

Coercive Acts

But despite the lack of violence, the Boston Tea Party didn't go unanswered by Rex George III and British Parliament.

In retribution, they passed the Coercive Acts (after known as the Intolerable Acts) which:

• closed Boston Harbor until the tea lost in the Boston Tea Political party was paid for
• ended the Massachusetts Constitution and ended costless elections of town officials
• moved judicial authority to Britain and British judges, basically creating martial police in Massachusetts
• required colonists to quarter British troops on demand
• extended liberty of worship to French-Canadian Catholics under British rule, which angered the mostly Protestant colonists

Britain hoped the Coercive Acts would squelch rebellion in New England and keep the remaining colonies from uniting, merely the opposite happened: All the colonies viewed the punitive laws as further evidence of Britain's tyranny and rallied to Massachusetts' assistance, sending supplies and plotting further resistance.

Second Boston Tea Party

A 2nd Boston Tea Political party took place in March 1774, when around sixty Bostonians boarded the ship Fortune and dumped about xxx chests of tea into the harbor.

The upshot didn't earn almost every bit much notoriety as the outset Boston Tea Party, merely it did encourage other tea-dumping demonstrations in Maryland, New York and South Carolina.

First Continental Congress Is Convened

Many colonists felt Britain's Coercive Acts went too far. On September 5, 1774, elected delegates from all 13 American colonies except Georgia met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress to effigy out how to resist British oppression.

The delegates were divided on how to move frontwards but the Boston Tea Party had united them in their fervor to gain independence. By the time they adjourned in Oct 1774, they'd written The Annunciation and Resolves which:

• censured Britain for passing the Coercive Acts and called for their repeal
• established a boycott of British appurtenances
• declared the colonies had the right to govern independently
• rallied colonists to form and railroad train a colonial militia

Britain didn't capitulate and inside months, the "shot heard round the world," rang out in Hold, Massachusetts, sparking the commencement of the American Revolutionary War.

Sources

A Tea Party Timeline: 1773-1775. Erstwhile S Meeting House.
The Boston Tea Party. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
The Boston Tea Party. Massachusetts Historical Society.
The Boston Tea Political party, 1773. EyewitnesstoHistory.com.
The Intolerable Acts. U.Due south.History.org.

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Source: https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-tea-party

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