2 Tea Act of 1773. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Angry residents blamed local merchants who had ordered the tea and forced them to dump it in the harbor themselves. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 1.2 Townshend duty crisis. 3. The Sons of Liberty were made up of males from all walks of colonial society, and among its membership were artisans, craftsmen, business owners, tradesmen, apprentices, and common laborers who organized to defend their rights, … By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. It was an act of protest in which a group of 60 American colonists threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to agitate against both a tax on tea (which had been an example of taxation without representation) and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company. Another surprising tidbit is that 22 percent of the tea that the patriots sent to the bottom of Boston Harbor was green tea. An 1829 obituary of Nicholas Campbell notes that he was “one of the ever-memorable Boston Tea Party.”, Soon after the rebellious act was committed, Carp says, it was simply referred to as “the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor, or something similarly cumbersome.”. All Rights Reserved. The East India Company exported a lot of goods from India in the 18th century, including spices and cotton, but it obtained almost all of its tea from China. Bailout. They staged the protest by boarding three trade ships in Boston Harbor and throwing the ships' cargo of tea overboard into the ocean. In retaliation, Parliament passed the series of punitive measures known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts, including the Boston Port Bill, which shut off the city’s sea trade pending payment for the destroyed tea. The facts about the Boston Tea Party Facts also provides interesting information about the people who were involved in the incident which became known as the Boston Tea Party. Easily the biggest surprise about the Boston Tea Party is that the uprising wasn’t a protest against a new tax hike on tea. In 1773, Americans learned that they were going to be forced to buy all of their tea from Britain’s East India Company. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In a simple sentence, we can say the Boston tea party ensured an inevitable war between the British Empire and American colonists. The merchants of Boston circumvented the act by continuing to receive tea smuggled in by Dutch traders. The Boston Tea Party pushed Britain’s Parliament to assert its authority—and it passed the Intolerable Acts in 1774. The East … Much of the tea that angry colonists dumped into the Boston Harbor was green tea. This confront included tossing midsections of tea from three … Contents. The Boston Tea Party paved the path that eventually led to the American Revolution. The tea rebellion in Boston was not originally called a “tea party.” The rebellious act of … Even if they knew that no one would believe they were actual Native Americans, the disguise sent a clear message to anyone who would dare to snitch: don’t you dare! The tea was Chinese, not Indian, and lots of it was green. The Sons of Liberty in Boston conducted this Destruction of the Tea in Boston. Interesting Facts. It was a confront by the American Colonists against the British as to the tea charges that had been forced on them. And with a name like the Tea Act, it’s fair to think that the law was all about raising taxes on tea. Washington, like most … 60 Facts about the Boston Tea Party Facts Boston Tea Party Facts: In 1767, the Tea trade was lucrative and the company that had a monopoly was the East India Company. We won’t be defeated,’” says Carp. For starters, it was customary in 18th-century England for protestors to “crossdress” in one way or another—blackening their faces, dressing as women, or even Catholic priests—to create an atmosphere of misrule. Second, the tea destroyed by the night raiders was not the King’s. First, the ships that were boarded by the Sons of Liberty, the Beaver, the Dartmouth and the Eleanor, were built and owned by Americans. Trading ships traveled from Canton to London loaded down with Chinese tea, which was then exported to British colonies the world over. The truth is that tea imports to the American Colonies had been taxed by the Crown since the passing of the 1767 Townshend Revenue Act, along with taxes on other commodities like paper, paint, oil and glass. This is another naming problem. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 1. They drank beverages made from smuggled Dutch tea and even some made from taxed British tea. 5. Yes, Tea Party protestors dressed as ‘indians,’ but not convincingly. The Tea Party, itself, didn’t incite revolution. The Boston Tea Party of 16 December 1773 is an iconic event in American history, revealing the nature of American resistance and bringing severe retaliation from the ministry of Great Britain. We are unbowed. Boston Tea Party Facts: 124-143 | Random Tidbits. Today in History, December 16, 1773: The Boston Tea Party. Some of them dressed up like American Indians. In response, several colonists stormed the tea ships and tossed the cargo overboard. It was the British reaction to the Boston Tea Party, not the event itself, that … 5 Destruction of the Tea. The confusion is partly timing and partly semantics. To help the East India Company compete with smuggled Dutch tea, Parliament passed the Indemnity Act, which lowered the tax on tea consumed in Great Britain and gave the East India Company a refund of the 25% duty on tea … This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Boston-Tea-Party, Social Studies for Kids - The Boston Tea Party, Boston Tea Party - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Boston Tea Party - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). The Tea Act was a corporate tax break for a giant corporation in trouble. The leaders of other major cities in the colonies cancelled their orders in protest, but the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony allowed tea to arrive in Boston. The Boston Tea Party occurred on December 16, 1773. Boston’s Sons of Liberty were absolutely responding to the British Parliament’s passage of the Tea Act of 1773 when they planned the Boston Tea Party. The measures became the justification for convening the First Continental Congress later in 1774. In such cities as New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, tea agents resigned or canceled orders, and merchants refused consignments. Most American colonists consumed, on average, 2 to 3 cups of tea each day. On December month’s 16th, the year 1773; the tea party took place at Boston Harbor. He strongly disapproved of ‘their conduct in destroying the tea’. Fulton’s role in the Boston Tea Party wasn’t the infamous actions of dumping tea into Boston Harbor — it was more subtle, though equally important. The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, a protest in 1773 by colonists who objected to British taxation without representation, and demonstrated by dumping British tea taken from docked ships into the harbor. But as with most well-trod origin stories, the true history of the Boston Tea Party is far more complicated than the grammar-school version, and the real facts of what happened on that fateful night in 1773 might surprise you. The Boston Tea Party is an important part of America's history. According to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were fans of a particular Chinese green tea variety called “hyson.”. The Boston Tea Party fact files provides fast access to interesting facts and stats about this famous event in American history. According to a 2012 book by Joseph Cummins, there were at least 10 “tea parties” up and down the Eastern seaboard that were inspired by the original and most famous. A turning point in history occurred that December morning in The Townshend tax on tea was an irritation, but most of the colonists preferred not to quarrel about it. Boston Tea Party Case Study 844 Words | 4 Pages. It’s the slippery slope argument.”. The American colonials however, refused to pay taxes when they had no representation in Parliament. George Washington did not approve of the destruction of the tea. 4. Colonists weren’t protesting a higher tax on tea. On December 16, 1773, colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor, a political protest and iconic event in American history. George Washington, who was totally in support of revolution, was the one who condemned the Boston Tea Party. As a result of the protest, the British government closed the Port of Boston to all ships. The popular notion of the Boston Tea Party is that angry colonists “stuck it to King George” by boarding British ships and dumping crate loads of the King’s precious tea into the Boston Harbor. The catalyst for what would become known as the Tea Party movement came on February 19, 2009, when Rick Santelli, a commentator on the business-news network CNBC, referenced the Boston Tea Party (1773) in his response to Pres. The Boston Tea Party by Henry Clay, c. 1880s (Wikimedia Commons) Regardless of what they were wearing, the men split into three, with each party boarding one of the three ships. The tea tax remained in effect until 1872, at which time it generated $10 million per year, or about 2% of all Federal revenue. The Boston Tea Party was an act of protest against the Tea Act of 1773, which had been recently passed by the British Government. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. On December 16, 1773 Boston had a historical moment.Boston had a tea party,but not an ordinary tea party.This tea party … To bolster their funds they chose to tax the colonies. These punitive measures included closing Boston’s harbour until restitution was made for the tea, reducing the Massachusetts Bay Colony to a crown colony with appointed, rather than elected, officials, and allowing the quartering of troops in vacant buildings across British North America. 7 Legacy. The passage of the Tea Act (1773) by the British Parliament gave the East India Company exclusive rights to transport tea to the colonies and empowered it to undercut all of its competitors. 2. 02 There was only one “tea partier” that got harmed during the Boston Tea Party. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 6. One of the most interesting Boston Tea Party facts is that George Washington, the most prominent revolutionary figure, condemned the incident. Facts about Boston Tea Party tell you about the political protest which took place on 16 December 1773. Take advantage of our Presidents' Day bonus! Updates? During the Philadelphia Tea Party, which took place just nine days after Boston’s, no tea was destroyed, but the captain of a ship carrying the largest delivery of East India Company tea was threatened with being tarred and feathered if he didn’t return the “wretched weed” to England. Interesting Facts 01 The famous Boston Tea Party took place at Boston’s Griffin’s Wharf on December 16, 1773. It was an act of protest in which a group of 60 American colonists threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to agitate against both a tax on tea (which had been an example of taxation without representation) and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company . They… The Boston Tea Party took place on the night of December 16, 1773, a few years before the start of the American Revolution in 1775. Corrections? The Boston Tea Party was an act of defiance organized by the Sons of Liberty. There is a historical marker that honors the Boston Tea Party in Boston. Some were nostalgic celebrations and others as provocative as the original Boston patriots. The Crown came up with a plan. On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of about 60 men, encouraged by a large crowd of Bostonians, donned blankets and Indian headdresses, marched to Griffin’s wharf, boarded the ships, and dumped the tea chests, valued at £18,000, into the water. Not likely, says Carp. There’s some question if the social known as a “tea party” even existed in the 1770s. The East India didn’t install its first tea plantations in India until the 1830s. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The … The Boston Tea Party was organized and carried out by a group of Patriots led by Samuel Adams known as the Sons of Liberty. “By adopting that identity, they’re saying, ‘We are defiant. 6 Reaction. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The Americans were protesting both a tax on tea (taxation without representation) and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company. 7. A series of events led to the American Revolution. After delivering valuable shipments of sperm whale oil and brain matter to London in 1773, the ships were loaded with tea en route to the American Colonies. The Townshend Acts passed by Parliament in 1767 and imposing duties on various products imported into the British colonies had raised such a storm of colonial protest and noncompliance that they were repealed in 1770, saving the duty on tea, which was retained by Parliament to demonstrate its presumed right to raise such colonial revenue without colonial approval. It was essentially a British government bailout of the British East India Company, which was hemorrhaging money and weighed down with unsold tea. The Boston Tea Party (1773) in Boston Harbor, as depicted in a Currier & Ives lithograph. Many of these sanctions were levied on the Massachusetts Colony and Boston itself, including the closing of Boston Harbor, replacing Boston’s elected leaders with those appointed by the Crown, and forcing the quartering of British troops in private homes. The Boston Tea Party by Henry Clay, c. 1880s (Wikimedia Commons)Regardless of what they were wearing, the men split into three, with each party boarding one of the three ships. The Sons of Liberty famous masqueraded in Native American dress on the night of the Tea Party raid, complete with tomahawks and faces darkened with coal soot. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The colonists were furious that the British were taking away their choice about who to buy from. Although taxes stoked colonist anger, the Tea Act itself didn’t raise the price of tea in the colonies by one red cent (or shilling, as it were). The attacked ships were American and the tea wasn’t the King’s. “You’re going to seduce Americans into being ‘obedient colonists’ by making the price lower,” says Carp. Two of the ships were primarily whaling vessels. It was private property owned by the East India Company and transported on privately contracted shipping vessels. The British practice of high tea didn’t take hold until the Victorian Era in the mid-19th century, and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, with its famous “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party,” wasn’t published until 1865. 1.1 Tea trade to 1767. This was because of the Tea Act passed by the British government. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. In 1774, the UK passed what are known as the Intolerable Acts or the Coercive Acts, a series of punitive measures meant to teach the rebellious colonists who was boss. While the Tea Party itself didn’t mobilize Americans en masse, it was Parliament’s reaction to it that did. The tea was not hard to find due to how much there was on each ship. There’s this idea that the Boston Tea Party was the rallying cry that galvanized the colonies for revolution, but Carp says that many strong opponents of British rule, George Washington among them, denounced acts of lawless and violence, especially against private property. Barack Obama’s mortgage relief plan. Most Americans can tell you that the first unofficial “declaration of independence” happened in Boston, when a band of tax-hating renegades dumped King George’s beloved tea into the harbor, a spirited act of defiance that united the colonies in revolution. “The Boston Tea Party – Destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor.” There’s this idea that the Boston … After Boston, there were other ‘tea parties.’. One hundred and one years later, the nation commemorated the event by doing just the opposite: serving tea at parties across the nation. But were they really trying to pass themselves off as local Mohawk or Narragansett tribesmen? 124. The following are some facts about the Boston Tea Party: What Was the Boston Tea Party? Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. But that story’s not true on two accounts. The incident opened the route to the American Revolution and then their independence. The Boston Tea Party became a foundational moment in American history—and it was not without controversy. On December 16, 1773 the Sons of Liberty threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor as a protect against the Tea Act of 1773. In 2006, a libertarian political party called the “Boston Tea Party” was founded. Broadside that encouraged the Boston Tea Party, 1773. 3 Resisting the Tea Act. 125. The Tea Party, itself, didn’t incite revolution. The Boston Tea Party went against Washington’s belief about ownership of property. In Charleston, South Carolina, a ship arrived in November 1774 carrying tea, but the captain swore that he was unaware of the controversial cargo. Here's what you need to know. The captains of the three ships were summoned to the privy council, but were unable to identify any of the people involved with the Boston Tea Party. However, it should have been apparent in…, Boston was not the only port to threaten to reject the casks of taxed tea, but its reply was the most dramatic—and provocative.…. This protest was headed by a group of colonists who called themselves the Sons of Liberty. The Boston Tea Party was a protest by the American Colonists against the British government. Benjamin Carp, a history professor at Brooklyn College and author of Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America, says that the Tea Act of 1773 was onerous in a different way. The perception of monopoly drove the normally conservative colonial merchants into an alliance with radicals led by Samuel Adams and his Sons of Liberty. The Boston Tea Party was one of the main events leading to the American Revolution. The entire shipment of tea intended to be sent by the East India Company was damaged by the demonstrators. The Boston Tea Party was an act of rebellion from which the strained relationship between Britain and the colonies would never recover. As uncomfortable as some colonists might have been with the Tea Party action itself, they were way more uncomfortable with the authoritarian reaction by Parliament.”. The tea party … After the French and Indian War the British government was struggling financially. The difference is that all of those other import taxes were lifted in 1770, except for tea, a pointed reminder of the King’s control over his far-off subjects. Omissions? The value of the 340 chests of squandered tea would total nearly $2 million in today’s money. This equaled approximately two million pounds of tea among 3 million colonists each year. The British government’s efforts to single out Massachusetts for punishment served only to unite the colonies and impel the drift toward war. The tea sent to the colonies was to be carried only in East India Company ships and sold only through its own agents, bypassing the independent colonial shippers and merchants. The Tea Party was a brazen and radical action that demonstrated the organization and resilience of Boston's waterfront community. The establishment of independence from Britain did not happen overnight. “If we accept the principal of allowing parliament to tax us, they’ll eventually make the taxes heavier on us. The protesters then took keys from the captains and began their search. 126. Secondly, the Sons of Liberty were cashing in on the image of the Native American as an independent spirit, the epitome of anti-colonialism. The Boston Tea Party The Boston Beginning: The Boston Tea Party Was a memorable event in US history. Boston Tea Party, (December 16, 1773), incident in which 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. Which he did. Fulton is credited with suggesting that the patriots wear disguises during their great tea-dumping campaign to ensure that they couldn’t be recognized from a distance and would remain incognito when they … And third, there was the practical reason for masking their identities. Cheaper tea sounds good, says Carp, but for the Sons of Liberty—many of whom were merchants and even tea smugglers—the Tea Act smelled like a ploy to get the masses comfortable with paying a tax to the Crown. “Taxation without representation was a dangerous precedent in and of itself, but now they were messing with the Massachusetts charter,” says Carp, “taking away rights that Massachusetts had previously enjoyed. They threw 342 chests of tea into the water. They were committing a crime! In response to the Coercive Acts, the First Continental Congress met in 1774 and Jefferson wrote “A Summary View of the Rights of British America.” Revolution was officially in the air. The Boston Tea Party was a protest against government control. In 1773 Parliament passed a Tea Act designed to aid the financially troubled East India Company by granting it (1) a monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies, (2) an exemption on the export tax, and (3) a “drawback” (refund) on duties owed on certain surplus quantities of tea in its possession. In Boston, however, the royal governor Thomas Hutchinson determined to uphold the law and maintained that three arriving ships, the Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver, should be allowed to deposit their cargoes and that appropriate duties should be honoured. An American colonist reads with concern the royal proclamation of a tax on tea in the colonies as a British soldier stands nearby with rifle and bayonet, Boston, 1767. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Although not British, some of the ship’s American owners were indeed Tory sympathizers. No one called it the ‘Boston Tea Party.’, The Boston Tea Party occurred in 1773, but the very first time that the words “Boston Tea Party” appeared in print was in 1825, and in most of those early mentions, the word “party” didn’t refer to a celebratory event with cakes and balloons, but to a party of men. 4 Standoff in Boston. A Summary View of the Rights of British America. The Boston Tea Party took place on the night of December 16, 1773, a few years before the start of the American Revolution in 1775. The company thus could sell the tea at a less-than-usual price in either America or Britain; it could undersell anyone else. The Tea Act allowed the East India Company to unload 544,000 pounds of old tea, commission-free, on the American Colonies at a bargain price. For starters, the colonists weren't protesting higher tax on tea. All the tea aboard the three East India ships in Boston Harbor on the night of December 16, … 03 The 3 ships involved in the Boston Tea … Interesting Boston Tea Party Facts: The Boston Tea Party took place a few years after the Boston Massacre, which took place on March 5 th, 1770.
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