The Boston Tea Party of 1773-
Victory in the French and Indian War was expensive for the Brits. At the war's end in 1763, King George the III and his government looked at taxing the American colonies as a way of helping their economy. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become largely independent. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) furled the colonists. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that pushed the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.
In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships made the colonists even more mad. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals went to the place where the ships were docked. A huge meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved (came to an agreement) that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A group of people was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 150 to 200 men, some disguised as Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Yelling war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the dock, came upon the three ships and dumped the tea into the harbor waters.
Victory in the French and Indian War was expensive for the Brits. At the war's end in 1763, King George the III and his government looked at taxing the American colonies as a way of helping their economy. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become largely independent. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) furled the colonists. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that pushed the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.
In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships made the colonists even more mad. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals went to the place where the ships were docked. A huge meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved (came to an agreement) that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A group of people was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 150 to 200 men, some disguised as Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Yelling war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the dock, came upon the three ships and dumped the tea into the harbor waters.