The Boston Tea Party By Difan Li

 The Boston Tea Party 

By Difan Li

One of the most widely known acts of rebellion during the American Revolution is that of the Boston Tea Party. But what was the real reason behind this act and what events followed it that were able to anger the American people to the brink of war?

In 1773, the British East India Company was facing bankruptcy. Its collapse would have made London lose in tax revenue, so to avoid this, the government gave the company a monopoly of the American tea business. Americans, however, believe that this was a trick of the British government making them accept the new tax, and states such as Philadelphia and New York forced tea-carrying ships to return to England. Boston British officials refused to fall to this colonist resistance. The Massachusetts governor, Thomas Hutchison, lost his home to a mob from the previous Stamp Act. Undeterred, he believed that the new tax on tea was unjust but must be obeyed as law, and thus he ordered that the tea ships were to remain in the harbor until all the cargo had been unloaded. 

On December 6, 1773 Bostonians disguised as Indians snuck onto the ships in the dead of night, smashed chests of tea and dumped them into the Atlantic. This was a great financial loss for the company, and a slap in the face to the government officials. Tea became a rallying symbol for all colonists, yet while some approved of the Boston Tea Party, more conservative Americans argued and condemned the destruction of private property. Rather than relent and give the colonists their desired right to home rule, British authorities continued on their path, holding the reins even tighter and eventually running headlong into full rebellion. 

In response to the Boston Tea Party of 1774, the British Parliament passed a series of acts, termed by the colonists as the “Intolerable Acts.” The most drastic of these was the Boston Port Act, which closed the Boston harbor until all damages from the Boston Tea Party had been paid for. Other Intolerable Acts took away the chartered rights of Massachusetts, and a new Quartering Act gave local authority power to lodge British soldiers anywhere, even in private homes. The Quebec Act was placed on French subjects in Canada, viewed by American colonists as a wider-range Intolerable Act and angering anti-Catholics. These Intolerable Acts, from their very name, held the promise of colonial uprising. The anger that they sparked only strengthened the resolve of the colonists and led to the outbreak of the American Revolution. 

Works Cited

Kennedy, David M, et al. The American Pageant : A History of the Republic. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co, 2006.