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American History Essays Boston Tea Party

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Boston Tea Party: A Fight for Freedom

Imagine you are a merchant in Boston selling imported goods from England with a high tax on them, when three ships come in with 342 chests of tea without planning to pay the middleman tax. That's how it was for many merchants in Boston. The East India Tea Company went bankrupt due to the dropping rate of tea sales in America because of the increasing rate of smuggling. The government's lack of support, and the newly passed Tea Act, only kindled more resentment towards the British from the colonists. This finally resulted in approximately three groups of fifty men going aboard the three British ships and dumping the tea into the Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party was more an act towards …show more content…

The colonists also thought that if they paid the duty on the tea, the British would impose other taxes on them. The smugglers were also angry because this would wipe out their entire illegal business (Funk 3). Even the people in England were upset because they weren't getting tea as cheap as in America for a short time. False rumors started to spread through the colonies that there was poison, bugs, and rat-tails in the tea (Francis).

The Tea Act and lack of help from government only caused more resentment towards the British. In 1767, the British Parliament placed duties on several items imported to America. Many colonists considered the taxes illegal and decided to not pay them by boycott. The government stopped all the duties except for imported tea. Parliament passed the Tea Act to help get the East India Tea Company out of financial trouble. This act allowed the company to sell tea in America for a much lower price. Three ships came into the Boston Harbor with 342 chests of tea without planning to pay the middleman tax to the store owners, which allowed them to make some profit due to the high taxes already placed. The colonists were outraged. The governor of Massachusetts rejected the efforts made by the colonists to prevent the tea being unloaded until the full tax was paid to them and they were allowed to buy their tea at the same price as usual. The government leaders did not want the three ships to leave Boston until the tea was unloaded

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