Primary Source Analysis Paper 1: The Boston Tea Party
George R.T. Hewes wrote the following reminiscence of the Boston Tea Party almost 61 years after it occurred. It is likely that his memories included more than a few stories he picked up well after 1773. Hewes himself was involved in the protest in Boston harbor led by the Son’s of Liberty, so he has an actual image of what happened on that day. Nonetheless, Hewes provides a highly detailed account of this important event. As of the year 1773 in the British Colonies, the British Parliament passes the Tea Act, a bill designed to save the East India Company from bankruptcy by greatly lowering the tea tax it paid to the British government and, thus, granting it a de facto monopoly on
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This source does raise an argument because we have to remember this is his reminiscence that he wrote on a sheet of paper, and he would probably not lie about everything he wrote, but he has the possibility of fantasizing or changing bits of the story here and there. Also, the source has, biases because he mentions that he was one of the patriots dressed as an Indian protesting in Boston, so his experience versus what the colonists saw or what the British saw must be different. This source is trying to persuade the American people to believe that the British Parliament was evil in what they did and in order to fight them back we protested them by destroying their tea that they taxed in fear of economic disaster. The author’s tone in this reminiscence was serious and brave as he fought to protect what he believed was right. He does not mention of doing any of the actions he did for personal name or gain or, just for the fun of it. His tone throughout the story does not change but rather stays on one end goal to protest against the Tea Act. The kinds of words that the author employed are as if he was a secret agent or a superhero on a mission to protect the land from foreign dictators. It sounded as if he was bluntly given the
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.
Colonists like Samuel Adams and Paul Revere used the event as a propaganda tool to outrage the colonies and increase anti-British sentiment. Parliament repealed all the taxes on the colonies, except the tax on tea. Although the colonists loved tea, many boycotted it because of the tax. The Tea Act in 1773 “was an effort to bail out the bankrupt East India Company by granting that corporation a monopoly on the tea trade to Americans”.
Britain wasn't giving up their hopes, they were still going to try to make the colonists pay the taxes. Since the colonists were still boycotting British tea, the British East India Company ( B.E.I. Company) lost a lot of money. To try to save this company they passed the Tea Act. The Tea Act was a law that allowed the B.E.I Company to sell their tea directly to the colonists. Originally, the B.E.I. Company sold the tea to merchants and from there, merchants sold the tea to the colonists with a higher price. But instead, they bypassed the merchants and directly sold the tea to the colonists, at a lower price. The colonists still didn't buy the cheaper tea because there was still a tax on tea! In order to protest, the colonists had public meetings and vowed to stop the B.E.I. Company from unloading. When the ships arrived in Philadelphia and New York, they forced them to turn back. In Charles Town, when tea arrived, it was seized and stored in a warehouse. But, in Boston, it wasn't as smoothy a process to turn back the ships. When three ships arrived in Boston Harbor, a royal governor whose house had been destroyed by Stamp Act protesters, refused to let the ships turn back. He then ordered them to unload the tea from the ships. In response to this action, the Sons of Liberty organized the Boston Tea party. They also organized the Boston Tea Party because they were mad and angry. When they passed the Tea Act and lowered the tea prices, they thought it was a trick to make the colonists pay the taxes. These actions by the British resulted in protesting, and eventually led to the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was held on December 16, 1773. That night approximately, 50 or 60 men disguised themselves as Native Americans and were armed with hatchets. They then went to the wharf and boarded three ships that contained boxes of tea. Swiftly and quietly, they broke the boxes of tea with their
American Tempest: How the Boston Tea Party Sparked A Revolution written by Harlow Giles Unger offers an in-depth analysis of the Boston Tea Party. Unger organizes the events in chronological order starting 30 years before the Boston Tea Party occurred. In the end he touches upon the aftermath of the journey towards self-government. The book presents many engaging details and provides the reader with more of a storytelling feel. He describes the colonists hard times and anger towards being taxed by British Parliament. Unger adds insights and conclusions about various topics and the people surrounding the rebellion, which was one of his goals in his writing. He wanted to tell of the untold Tea Party 's impact on American history politically, socially, and economically. The book was intended for the general public, because he wrote “ironically, few, if any Americans today… know the true and entire story of the Tea Party and the Patriots who staged it” (4).
The American colonists did the right thing by dumping the tea overboard due to the British taxing the tea. All they wanted was freedom, and this was an act of freedom to the colonists. Also, the colonists didn’t have the money to pay for all the taxed goods. Lastly, they were very polite to the British before and during the Boston Tea Party. The colonists of America did nothing wrong.
The men involved in the scandal quickly retreated home to avoid arrest, for the evening of December 16 was the end of the twenty days, and the evening in which the tea was scheduled to be unloaded. Only one patriot was caught and arrested: Francis Akeley. As one can imagine, the king was infuriated by the disrespect displayed by the colonists. The king shut down the Boston harbor until the damage was paid for. After all, 340 chests of tea was expensive. The colonists resisted to pay anything to the king, and the first continental congress was organized to petition the king to obliterate the unjust act of closing the Boston Harbor. (Bober
This account of the Boston Tea Party and an original document of the remembrances of a participant in that event appears in one of the standard college textbooks used today in
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
Actually, there was no violence at all after the Boston Tea Party. As most people that commit a heinous crime leave the scene, the people who participated in the Tea Party also left after they committed the crime. They did not stick around to talk about what they just did, they went to their homes and laid low. One of the members mentioned, “We then quietly retired to our several places of residence, without having any conversation with each other, or taking any measures to discover who were our associates… There appeared to be an understanding that each individual should volunteer his services, keep his own secret, and risk the consequence for himself. No disorder took place during that transaction, and it was observed at that time that the stillest night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for many months” (The Aftermath). Not a single person was killed or injured. Not any crew members from any of the ships were injured or killed from this event. “For weeks after the Boston Tea Party, Boston Harbor smelled as a result of over 92,000 pounds of tea dumped into the harbor” (The Aftermath). They dumped so much tea into the harbor, that people were trying to come in and get it off of the top of the water, but the Sons of Liberty would go around in their boats and hit the water to try and make the tea sink. The results and impact of the Tea Party played a big part in leading up to the American Revolution.
After months of protests Parliament realized their mistake and repealed the tax, but the damage had already been done and the Colonists would start a revolution to separate themselves from the British. On December 16, 1773 the Sons of Liberty, a group of Patriots led by Samuel Adams cut open 340 chests of British East India Company tea, weighing over 92,000 pounds (roughly 46 tons), onboard the Beaver, Dartmouth, and Eleanor and then dumped it into Boston Harbor; a total loss of $1,700,000 dollars in today’s money. Weeks after the ordeal the harbor still had the smell of tea. Until the 340 chest of British Eat India Company tea were paid for the British completely closed off Boston Harbor. The Intolerable act which was meant to punish the actions of the Sons of Liberty. This did not help Colonists’ approval of the British government. The harsh punishments unified the American colonists even more against British rule. The effect the Boston Tea Party had was noteworthy and ultimately sparked the American Revolution which started only two years later in Massachusetts on April 19,
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that took place on December 16, 1773 in Boston Harbor in Boston, Massachusetts. The Sons of Liberty led by Samuel Adams, dressed as Mohawk Indians destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent from the East India Company by throwing chests full of tea into the Boston Harbor. George Hewe’s, an eyewitness of the event writes in his journal, “In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time.” (Hewes). The Sons of Liberty, a secret group formed by the 13 colonies to protect the rights of the colonists, protested in opposition of the Tea Act implemented on May 10, 1773. The Tea Act was an act placed by the British Parliament in order to raise revenue for Great Britain that required tax on
Andrews wrote a firsthand account of the Boston tea party recording that about ten thousand pounds worth of silver in tea was dumped into the Boston harbor. The people were angered by the tea tax that Britain put on the colonies and the people reacted in a violent way. John Andrews had many notable observations. One of these such observations was when the colonists voted unanimously to dump all the tea into the harbor. Another was how they only wanted to damage the tea, no other cargo was touched. When talking about the participants he viewed them highly as brave men. During the Boston tea party, certain people tried to sneak some of the tea for themselves instead of throwing it overboard. In George Hewes account of the Boston tea party, the people who took tea were shown to be punished. In his account, he talks about catching a captain who stuffed tea in the pockets of his coat. When trying to escape the captain's coat
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 1773 Tea Act did cause the American Revolution in that it sparked huge opposition amongst the colonists. It was the third time that the British had tried to tax the Americans — both the 1765 Stamp Act and the 1767 Townshend Duties had been repealed due to such opposition. The Tea Act was the final straw for many colonists — the Sons of Liberty organised a huge protest in which they boarded the ships carrying the East India Company’s tea, and threw £10,000 worth of tea into the sea in defiance. This was known as the Boston Tea Party and demonstrated to the British that the Americans were not willing to accept British taxation. The slogan ‘no taxation without representation’ was frequently used, showing how the Americans felt the British, in trying to tax them, were attempting to impose a tyrannical rule. The Boston Tea Party provoked outrage in Britain, with many of the politically conscious calling for the Americans to be punished. This then led to the Coercive Acts in 1774, which aimed at isolating Boston — although it only resulted in increasing the tension between the
The Tea Act of 1773 was a tax on tea but, the British lowered the cost of tea significantly enough that even with the tax, British tea was cheaper than Dutch tea. Also to keep the price down, the British East India Co. got rid of the middleman in the colonies and opened up their own shops. If the colonists bought this tea, they would be accepting the fact that the British could tax without representation. On Dec. 16th 1773 the ships docked at the Boston ports. The Sons of Liberty dressed up as Indians and threw 324 chests of tea into the water. England responded to the Boston Tea Party by the Coercive Act of 1774.