The Boston Tea Party

In 1773, Parliament passed a law that allowed the British East India Tea Company to sell tea in the colonies at a very low price. Parliament thought the colonists would buy the cheaper East India tea, even if it did include a tax. This law hurt colonial merchants because they had to pay the tax on the more expensive teas they imported and sold. Colonial merchants worried that the colonists would buy the East India Tea that was less expensive. The colonial merchants would not be able to sell their more expensive teas.

People in the colonies decided to boycott the British tea.

In Pennsylvania and New York, colonists did not allow British tea ships to enter the large city ports.

They sent ships out into the harbors to block the tea ships.

In Boston,

the captains of the British tea ships managed to sail into Boston Harbor. However, the colonists refused to unload the tea. Then late one December night, the Sons of Liberty held the Boston Tea Party. Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians. They boarded the ships in the harbor and broke open all the wooden chests of tea.

Then they dumped the tea

into Boston Harbor.

When word got back to England, Parliament and King George became very angry and decided to punish the Massachusetts colony. Parliament wanted to prove that the colonies needed to obey British laws. Parliament passed a new law saying that no ship carrying colonial goods could enter or leave Boston Harbor until the Massachusetts Colony paid for all the tea that was destroyed.

Parliament ordered the Royal Navy to blockade Boston Harbor. The blockade prevented supplies from entering the Harbor. It also prevented Massachusetts merchants from selling their goods. As another punishment, Parliament ordered the citizens of Massachusetts to quarter British soldiers. The colonists had to either pay for food and housing for the British soldiers, or give them food and a place to sleep. King George also made General Thomas Gage the new Governor of Massachusetts. General Gage had been head of the British army in North America. The colonists called all these new British laws the Intolerable Acts. The other colonies tried to support Boston.

blockade - Closing the Port of Boston put half the people of Boston out of work. Boston fishermen were not allowed to fish. Sea trade was the fuel for the city of Boston. There was concern that the city would starve.

Boston Tea Party - The colonists knew that if the tea remained on board ship more than 20 days, by law, the tea would be sold at auction. Then the taxes would be paid from the sale of the auctioned tea. The Tea Party was held on December 16, the night before the 20-day period expired. This prevented the tea tax from being paid by auctioning the tea.

expensive - When England put a tax on tea, the American merchants began to smuggle Dutch tea into the colonies. They didn’t pay a tax on the smuggled tea. The price of the East India tea was still cheaper than the smuggled Dutch tea.

King George - King George often lost his temper and went into rages. Today doctors think he was suffering from a disease that affected his emotions and mood.

support - Other colonies sent supplies to Boston. Connecticut sent money. South Carolina sent rice. New York sent sheep. Virginia set aside a day to pray for Boston.

tea - The actual blend of tea that was thrown overboard was a mixture of Ceylon and Darjeeling teas from Sri Lanka and India. This blend of tea can still be bought from the original shippers, Davison Newman of London.

Credits

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