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
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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
In 1773 parliament passed the tea act in which the British pay less for tax to ship places. This made the prices of tea lower from Britain. Since Boston's tea would be more expensive nobody would buy it from them. The tea act was just another problem adding up between the colonists and britain. This made the colonists want to be independent from Britain. The colonists decided to rebel and dumb three hundred and forty two chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The act was given the name the Boston Tea Party. Most of the British thought of the Boston Tea Party as an act of terrorism. Really the Boston Tea Party was just another step to independence for the colonists.
At the time tea was the most popular non-alcoholic drink in the world, and consequently, was highly taxed. All tea which was being sent to America was first shipped through England. By the time the tea made it to America, the price was through the roof. In response to the high price of tea, many merchants began smuggling the tea into America and selling it at a discounted price to the colonists. This system worked well until the Tea Act was passed. The Tea Act lowered the import tax on tea, and imposed a small tax on the tea itself. Unfortunately, the colonists did not react as well as the English hoped. Merchants felt threatened by the tax as many of their businesses relied on smuggled tea to turn a profit. The colonists also reacted negatively, believing that Britain was unfairly imposing a tax which they had to right to impose. In retaliation, American colonists dressed as Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea from British merchant ships into Boston Harbour, and again, nine days later in Delaware, colonists dumped over 700 chests. The British, rightly outraged by the actions of the colonists, imposed the Coercive Acts: 1) the King closed Boston Harbour until all the dumped tea was payed for, 2) the Massachusetts charter was annulled, and the governor council was reappointed by the King, 3) the Quartering Act required homeowners
The Tea Act of 1773 was put in place to help a failing company called the East India Company by not charging them any tax on tea. The result of the Act was that it gave that company a monopoly on tea. The British government did not think this would cause any issues with the colonists because it would make the cost of tea go down. (Document 4) East India Company sailed into many ports to import their tea, including
When the Boston Tea Party occurred on the evening of December 16,1773, it was the culmination of many years of bad feeling between the British government and her American colonies. The controversy between the two always seemed to hinge on the taxes, which Great Britain required for the upkeep of the American colonies. Starting in 1765, the Stamp Act was intended by Parliament to provide the funds necessary to keep peace between the American settlers and the Native American population. The Stamp Act was loathed by the American colonists and later repealed by parliament.
The east India Company trying to eliminate the middle man they lower the cost of the newly found drink. The tea act however made many of the colonist very anger. They feared that the east India company
The hope of doing this was to lower the price of East India tea as well as the duty below the price of the smuggled Dutch tea, therefore motivating Americans to obey the law. This act lowered the tax on tea to entice boycotting Americans to buy it. However, the Americans did not fall for this trick because they thought this act was to help increase revenues to pay the “salaries of royal governors and judges.” (150). The Tea Act had many effects on the colonists. First of all, they did not like this taxation, causing them to think of ways to break the law. They came up with one way, which was to pressure the tea agents to resign. “Without agents, governors yielded, and tea cargoes either landed duty-free or were sent home.” (150). In November 1773, three ships containing tea arrived in Boston. The ships cleared customs, and the crews, unloaded all the cargo except for the tea because they could sense the extreme tension in the town. The ship captains wanted to leave the town due to the tension, but Governor Hutchinson would not allow them to leave without paying the tea duty. He gave them twenty days to pay. If they did not pay
The Tea Act of 1773 was put in place to save the East India Company from going out of business because the British needed them for there economy to work. The American’s that were mostly affected by this act would be the American’s that had business’s because they could not feed their family and their business wasn’t running right at all no one was buying anything from them. The American’s decided that they had had enough and got on ships of the East India Company and thru over 300 chests of tea into the Boston harbor that night. The main point of the Tea act was to help the British and only the British not the colonies at
The Boston tea party, was a pivotal point in American history. Nine artisan and shopkeepers gathered together to protest the unfairness of the stamp act started on may 16, 1773 . The nine were referred as the loyal nine, and later the Sons of liberty.
In 1773, Samuel Adams wasted a great deal of effort promoting the disagreement to the British Tea Act, and it became know as the Boston Tea Party. There was a tax on the tea, but the American colonists rejected to buy the tea until there will be no taxation on it. They chose to buy the expensive tea instead of this one. The Tea Act was passed which gave the East Indian Company to import tea to the colonies. This Act taxed the tea at the source in India rather at consumer. The colonists were not fooled by the new measures, and they didn't like the control that the government had over the dispersion of tea. So when the first shipment of tea arrived at the ports of Philadelphia and New York they were not allowed to land. In Boston, Samuel Adams was promoting opposition to the Tea Act. He published an article, and in it he calls for all Americans to protest this tax and not pay. Also, He called the East Indian Company in order to keep the peace. When the East Indian ship arrived at Boston Harbor it was not allowed to unload. Salvation Army wanted the ship to return. At least seven thousand men gathered near the Faneuil Hall to support Adams’ petition for the ship to return. Although, Governor Hutchinson refused to give permission and stood his ground. That evening a group of angry men who were attending the meeting, went to the harbor. some of them changed and in less than four hours the contents of 342 chests was thrown into the sea
Colonists believing it was unconstitutional to implement tax on tea but also letting the company run as a monopoly angered American traders who were excluded from selling. There had been a huge boycott along the eastern ports of the colonists and prevented the unloading of the tea cargo. In the
American colonists refused to buy goods from Britain because of the Townshend taxes.Parliament removed all of the Townshend taxes except the tax on tea. By keeping the tax on tea Parliament was telling the colonist that they still had the right to place taxes on goods shipped to America.Colonists wanted laws to be made with their own consent.They felt like Parliament had no right to pass laws, especially tax laws, since they had no votes in Parliament.The British kept sending tea to American Port cities. The British East India Company that produced the tea impacted Parliament to pass the Tea Act in 1773. The act removed all British taxes on tea except a very small important tax on tea shipped to America. Although the price of tea dropped, colonists still refused to buy East India tea even though it was now cheaper than tea that was smuggled to the colonies.When the Dartmouth, one of the tea ships, arrived at Boston the citizens organized meetings and demanded that the ship return with its tea to Britain.The governor refused.On December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams organized a group of men to take action. They disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and boarded the Dartmouth. They worked all through the night with axes smashing crates of tea and dumped them into the Boston Harbor.The British were angry. In 1774 Parliament passed the Coercive Acts to punish
One of the largest points that the author makes is the significance of tea to the people in the colonies. While there were many who thought that tea was evil and caused health issues, the overwhelming majority of colonist were obsessed. Tea was something new and seen as a luxury item. It took a six-month voyage for the EIC to bring to the precious leaves to Boston. Once there, it was auctioned to those who could afford it. While the bourgeoisie sipped their tea and
The British to boost the troubled East India Company, British Parliament adjusted import duties with the passage of the Tea Act. While consignees in Charleston, New York, and Philadelphia rejected tea shipments, merchants in Boston refused to concede to Patriot pressure. Tonight Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty will boarded three ships in the Boston harbor and through chests of tea overboard.
In 1773 Parliament passed a Tea Act designed to aid the financially troubled East Indian Company by granting it a monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies, an exemption on the export tax, and a "drawback" (refund) on duties owed on certain surplus quantities of tea in its possession. “The tea sent to the colonies was to be carried only in East India Company ships and sold only through its own agents, bypassing the independent colonial shippers and merchants. The company thus could sell the tea at a less-than-usual price in either
When the Boston Tea Party occurred on the evening of December 16,1773, it was the culmination of many years of bad feeling between the British government and her American colonies. The controversy between the two always seemed to hinge on the taxes, which Great Britain required for the upkeep of the American colonies. Starting in 1765, the Stamp Act was intended by Parliament to provide the funds necessary to keep peace between the American settlers and the Native American population. The Stamp Act was loathed by the American colonists and later repealed by parliament.