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A Pennsylvania newspaper sarcastically suggested this design for stamps.

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A Pennsylvania newspaper sarcastically suggested this design for stamps.

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Library of CongressThis picture represents the bad reaction the colonists had to the Stamp Act.

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Account of the Boston Tea Party, by Robert Session

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Account of the Boston Tea Party, by Robert Session

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U.S. History in Context

I was living in Boston at the time, in the family of a Mr. Davis, a lumber merchant, as a common laborer. On that eventful evening, when Mr. Davis came in from the town meeting, I asked him what was to be done with the tea.

"They are now throwing it overboard," he replied.

Receiving permission, I went immediately to the spot. Everything was as light as day, by the means of lamps and torches; a pin might be seen lying on the wharf. I went on board where they were at work, and took hold with my own hands.

I was not one of those appointed to destroy the tea, and who disguised themselves as Indians, but was a volunteer, the disguised men being largely men of family and position in Boston, while I was a young man whose home and relations were in Connecticut. The appointed and disguised party proving too small for the quick work necessary, other young men, similarly circumstanced with myself, joined them in their labors.

The chests were drawn up by a tackle — one man bringing them forward [in the hold], another putting a rope around them, and others hoisting them to the deck and carrying them to the vessel's side. The chests were opened, the tea emptied over the side, and the chests thrown overboard.

Perfect regularity prevailed during the whole transaction. Although there were many people on the wharf, entire silence prevailed — no clamor, no talking. Nothing was meddled with but the teas on board.

After having emptied the whole, the deck was swept clean, and everything put in its proper place. An officer on board was requested to come up from the cabin and see that no damage was done except to the tea.

Joshua Wyeth noted that despite the fact that "we were merry, in an undertone, at the idea of making so large a cup of tea for the fishes, the Indians were as still as the nature of the case would admit, using no more words than were absolutely necessary."

Robert Sessions, who participated in the Boston Tea Party, wrote about what he witnessed during the raid in 1773.

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The Massachusetts Spy, Dec. 23, 1773. Newspaper tells of the Boston Tea Party

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The Massachusetts Spy, Dec. 23, 1773. Newspaper tells of the Boston Tea Party

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This newspaper article talks about the Boston Tea Party and the events that occurred that night.

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Tax Collector Getting Tarred and Feathered

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Tax Collector Getting Tarred and Feathered

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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs DivisionThis picture shows how colonists rebelled against the taxes being imposed on them by harming tax collectors.

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Mohawks dumping tea into the Boston Harbor

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Mohawks dumping tea into the Boston Harbor

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American Revolution Reference Library 2000This photo shows the colonists dumping the chests of tea into the water which was witnessed by other colonists.

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There were many different things that led up to the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Colonists were getting pushed around by Britain and wanted to show them that the colonists weren’t to be messed with. In order to prove a point to the British government colonists from Boston dressed up as Native Americans and pushed about 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The Boston Tea party was a major event that pushed the colonists towards the American Revolution.

The build up to the Boston Tea party was extensive. It started with the French and Indian War. The war was the "most expensive of all colonial wars between France and England"(Boston Tea Party 1773). Since a lot of money was spent to protect the colonists from the French and Native Americans, Britain decided that Americans should help pay for the war. They also wanted the colonists to contribute to the cost of placing soldiers in forts scattered around the new western frontier. During the mid 1700s Parliament passed a series of new acts to help reduce Britain’s debt that they accumulated over the duration of the war. The acts would also help cover the cost of keeping soldiers in America.

The first three acts Parliament introduced were the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and the Quartering Act. The Sugar Act was an indirect tax that was put on molasses, which is used to make sugar. The British has imposed the Molasses Act of 1733, which charged the colonists six pence per gallon of molasses. Since the tax was never getting collected they "reduced the rate by half and increasing measures to enforce the tax, the British hoped that the tax would actually be collected"(Intolerable Acts: Document Analysis).The Stamp Act was a direct tax that required any printed material must be printed on stamped paper, which is produced in London, England. Printed materials included newspapers, magazines, legal documents, pamphlets, licenses, almanacs, and even playing cards. The Stamp Act was hated most by colonists. The colonists rebelled against this tax by protesting in public places as well as scaring tax collectors. The Quartering Act stated that colonists had to provide British soldiers housing while they were in the colonies. Colonists also had to pay for all the costs that came with housing and feeding the British soldiers. The colonists did such a great job of boycotting these acts Parliament repealed the three acts in 1766.

Parliament needed another way to raise money since they repealed all three acts. Parliament passed the Townshend Act in 1767, which put a direct tax on the materials that the colonists used on a day-to-day basis. This act made buying important items such as lead, glass, paint, and tea more expensive. The colonists talked about how they “will not, from and after the 1st of January 1769, import into the province any tea, paper, glass, or painters colours, until the act imposing duties on those articles shall be repealed”. The colonists boycotted all goods that were under the Townshend Acts. This caused profits to decrease. In order to help save the East India Company, who was struggling during the boycott, Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773. This act cut out wholesalers and allowed the East India Company to sell directly to America. This act caused a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies. This hurt the colonies “because the Tea Act allowed East India Company to name its own sales agents to distribute the tea in America ports, business for local merchants and middlemen decreased”(Boston Non-Importation Agreement: The Full Text). This outraged the colonists because they saw it as an attempt from Parliament to tax them without their permission.

Colonists were lashing out at the Tea Act by burning tea ships and warehouses where tea was being stored. The local officials had to send the ships back to England without unloading the tea the ships brought. On the evening of December 16, 1773 there were three ships in the Boston Harbor. The ships contained over nine hundred thousand pounds of tea. Sixty men that called themselves “Mohawks” disguised themselves as Native Americans and started boarding all of the ships. The men organized themselves into three different groups and began breaking open the chests and started dumping the tea into the harbor. Since the water was so shallow the Mohawks had to rake the tea so they could continue to finish dumping the rest of the tea into the harbor.

The effect the Boston Tea Party had on the colonies was tremendous. It helped lead America into the American Revolution. Colonists were finally realizing that they were being treated badly by the British government. It was the first time colonists were rebelling against their own government with violence. After this event occurred Parliament passed the Coercive Act also know as the Intolerable Acts in 1774.  These laws “closed the port of Boston until the citizens paid for the destroyed tea, dismantled Massachusetts's colonial charter, expanded the powers of the king's governor, made it harder to convict royal officials of crimes, and effectively imposed martial law”(Boston Tea Par).This major event showed the colonists that they can make themselves heard by Britain and that they have the power to rebel and also foreshadowed more of what was to come in the future.  The Coercive acts upset the colonists and pushed them to form the First Continental Congress in 1774 to talk about how they would respond to Brittan for passing a new act. The Boston Tea Party helped the colonies find their voice and helped them move towards complete independence and separation from England.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

"Boston Non-Importation Agreement: The Full Text." Milestone Documents in American History. Ed. Paul Finkelman. Hackensack: Salem, 2008. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

"Boston Tea Party (1773)." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk. Detroit: Gale, 1999. U.S. History in Context. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

Selesky, Harold E. "Boston Tea Party." Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Library of Military History. Ed. Harold E. Selesky. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 95-96. U.S. History in Context. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

Stoermer, R. S. Taylor. "Intolerable Acts: Document Analysis." Milestone Documents in American History. Ed. Paul Finkelman. Hackensack: Salem, 2008. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.