Boston Tea Party Research Paper
Daugh White
Kara Conner
History 108
11/24/15
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party occurred on a winter night of Thursday, December 16, 1773. It was a pre-revolutionary event of a direct protest that the colonialists used the tea tax that was levied by the British government. The Boston party resulted due to the resentment that the British colonialist had towards the Boston colonists. During the event, the Patriots were dressed as Mohawk Indians and attacked the British ships in the Boston harbor. After raiding the three ships, the Patriots dumped 342 containers of tea into the harbor. The group of Patriots, who were also called the Sons of Liberty, organized the incident and was led by Samuel Adams. It was composed of males from all the parts of the colonial society ('Boston Tea Party'). …show more content…
The Boston tea party had its origins several years before the above-indicated event took place.
It originated in the wake of the Indian and French war that ended in 1763. After Parliament passed the Quartering Act in 1766, there were a lot of opposition from the majority of people. The quartering act provided for required the colonial assemblies to give barracks and supplies. In 1967, a stamp act was passed and later revoked before the Americans. In the same year, the Townshend Act was passed and allowed import duties on leads, paints, tea, and paper ('Boston Tea Party'). The purpose of the imposition of these duties was to support the civil government and defray the charge of the administration of
justice.
The act simply intended to force the American colonies to recompense for the British administration of the territory. At this point, the parliament considered the acts to be quite usual, and it was, therefore, easy for the parliament to pass the act. At the same time, the colonies were considered as the part of the empire. Entailing taxation as a proposition was another matter that the Parliament had in hand at this time (Countryman). It became a problem because there was no internal colonial taxation that could be imposed on the people. The only taxes that were considered valid were the ones from the crown. This led to the issue of the representation of the colonies in the parliament, which was prohibited in the American colonies.
The main cause of the Boston Tea Party was taxation without representation. The Americans protested bitterly that the British did not represent them and were unfairly taxing them to cater for the expenses that accrued during the French and Indian war. Moreover, the colonialist had in mind that they were not supposed to be taxed by the Parliament, and they had the right against taxation. This is because they Americans were not represented in the parliament, so they were not supposed to be taxed. Tea had been imported to the American colonies on a regular basis since the 18th century (Countryman).
By the time the Boston Tea Party incidence occurred, it has been assessed that an approximate of 1.2 million pounds of tea were drunk each year by the American colonialist. Imposing taxes on the American colonies was the only way that the British could gain more money from the lucrative tea trade. As a result of this, the cost of British tea increased and in reaction to this the American colonialists started a money-spinning business of bringing in tea from the Dutch and the various European markets ('The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations Of Revolution').
The smuggling of tea by the American colonialists made the parliament pass the indemnity act in 1767. The indemnity act led to the repealing of the tax on tea, and the price of the British tea became similar to that of the Dutch. The business of smuggling tea violated the Navigation Act that was passed in the 17th century. Furthermore, the smuggling affected the lucrative British tea trade. Later in 1767, a Townshend Revenue Act was passed by the Parliament to allow for the taxation of tea and other products such as paper, glass, lead, paint, and oil. The act led to protests and boycotts, and it was later repealed, and tea was the only commodity that was excluded from taxation.
The tea act was passed in 1773, and the British East India Company was given the monopoly on the tea sales in the American colonies. Such compelling activities, plus the acts themselves, appear to have radicalized increasing numbers of affected colonists. The circumstantial condition for the East India Company's activities is that since 1770, when all but the tea tax supplies were lifted from the Townshend Acts, the Americans had been bringing in Dutch tea into the country to evade import duties on British tea, "dropping the sale of the Company's tea by nearly two-thirds” (Woods). American colonialists such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock ventured into the lucrative business of smuggling tea. Despite the protests against the Townshend Act, it remained in place, and this enhances further the tea trade that took place. The American colonialists became angry because of the tea tax since they believed that the Tea acts a way of gaining the colonial backing for the tax that was already imposed. The business of the colonial merchants was cut down due to the involvement of the agents in the direct sale of tea. The agents were from the British East India Company. Samuel Adams and John Hancock tried to fight for their economic interests as tea smugglers by opposing the Tea Act. Samuel Adams went to an extent of selling the opposition of British tea to the Patriots on the excuse of the putting to an end of human rights by being taxed without exemplification ('The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations of Revolution').
Hundreds of people participated in the Boston Tea Party remained anonymous for several years after the event took place. After the destruction of the tea, many participants fled Boston to avoid arrest. The sons of liberty who led the event disguised themselves by dressing like Narragansett Indians. Three ships were involved in the Boston Tea Party. The ships were loaded with cargoes of the British East India Company tea and were anchored in the Boston Harbor. The ships were Eleanor, Beaver and Dartmouth. Each ship carried a huge amount of the British East India company tea. The tea in the three ships was offloaded by the sons of liberty led by Samuel Adams (Woods).
About three hundred and forty chests of the British India Company tea that were on in the three ships were crashed open using the axes and were cast off into Boston Harbor the night of December 12, 1773. The tea cargo weighed about 92000 pounds that are roughly 46 tons. Estimating the total damage in today's money that the sons of liberty caused amounts to $1,700,000. The British East India Company reported that the damage could have amounted to 9,659 U.S. dollars (Cory).
The destruction of tea was a great blow to the British since the loss was very high. Despite the destruction of the tea cargo, the ships, and the other items on board were not damaged. The sons of liberty were careful not to destroy any other thing, but only the cargo for the British East India tea. There is nothing that was stolen from the ship, not even the tea. The decks of the ships were swept clean by the sons of liberty after they had ensured that all the tea were destroyed. Everything was then put in place. The intentions of the Sons of Liberty were very deliberate and ensured that nothing else besides tea was destroyed (Labaree).
There was no violence during the Boston Tea Party. Also, there were no confrontations among the patriots and no member of the crew of the three ships, Eleanor, Beaver and Dartmouth were harmed. The Boston Tea Party was one of the earliest and greatest organized rebellion against the British rule. The sons of liberty had planned effectively to ensure that the event was conducted and executed as planned. For several weeks, there had been a lot of smell that emanated from the harbor where the 92,000 pounds of tea were dumped (Labaree). The Boston Harbor was shut down by the British until the time that all the damages were paid for. The policy was implemented under the Boston Port Act that was passed in the Intolerable Acts in 1774.
Works Cited
'Boston Tea Party'. Science 286.5438 (1999): 229c-229. Web. 19 November 2015.
Countryman, E. 'Defiance Of The Patriots: The Boston Tea Party And The Making Of America'. Journal of American History 98.2 (2011): 506-507. Web. 19 November 2015.
'The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations Of Revolution'. Choice Reviews Online 50.06 (2013): 50-3462-50-3462. Web. 19 November 2015.
Labaree, Benjamin Woods. The Boston tea party. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press, 1964. Print.
Gunderson, Cory. Boston Tea Party. Abdo Publishing Company, 2010. Print.
Kara Conner
History 108
11/24/15
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party occurred on a winter night of Thursday, December 16, 1773. It was a pre-revolutionary event of a direct protest that the colonialists used the tea tax that was levied by the British government. The Boston party resulted due to the resentment that the British colonialist had towards the Boston colonists. During the event, the Patriots were dressed as Mohawk Indians and attacked the British ships in the Boston harbor. After raiding the three ships, the Patriots dumped 342 containers of tea into the harbor. The group of Patriots, who were also called the Sons of Liberty, organized the incident and was led by Samuel Adams. It was composed of males from all the parts of the colonial society ('Boston Tea Party'). …show more content…
The Boston tea party had its origins several years before the above-indicated event took place.
It originated in the wake of the Indian and French war that ended in 1763. After Parliament passed the Quartering Act in 1766, there were a lot of opposition from the majority of people. The quartering act provided for required the colonial assemblies to give barracks and supplies. In 1967, a stamp act was passed and later revoked before the Americans. In the same year, the Townshend Act was passed and allowed import duties on leads, paints, tea, and paper ('Boston Tea Party'). The purpose of the imposition of these duties was to support the civil government and defray the charge of the administration of
justice.
The act simply intended to force the American colonies to recompense for the British administration of the territory. At this point, the parliament considered the acts to be quite usual, and it was, therefore, easy for the parliament to pass the act. At the same time, the colonies were considered as the part of the empire. Entailing taxation as a proposition was another matter that the Parliament had in hand at this time (Countryman). It became a problem because there was no internal colonial taxation that could be imposed on the people. The only taxes that were considered valid were the ones from the crown. This led to the issue of the representation of the colonies in the parliament, which was prohibited in the American colonies.
The main cause of the Boston Tea Party was taxation without representation. The Americans protested bitterly that the British did not represent them and were unfairly taxing them to cater for the expenses that accrued during the French and Indian war. Moreover, the colonialist had in mind that they were not supposed to be taxed by the Parliament, and they had the right against taxation. This is because they Americans were not represented in the parliament, so they were not supposed to be taxed. Tea had been imported to the American colonies on a regular basis since the 18th century (Countryman).
By the time the Boston Tea Party incidence occurred, it has been assessed that an approximate of 1.2 million pounds of tea were drunk each year by the American colonialist. Imposing taxes on the American colonies was the only way that the British could gain more money from the lucrative tea trade. As a result of this, the cost of British tea increased and in reaction to this the American colonialists started a money-spinning business of bringing in tea from the Dutch and the various European markets ('The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations Of Revolution').
The smuggling of tea by the American colonialists made the parliament pass the indemnity act in 1767. The indemnity act led to the repealing of the tax on tea, and the price of the British tea became similar to that of the Dutch. The business of smuggling tea violated the Navigation Act that was passed in the 17th century. Furthermore, the smuggling affected the lucrative British tea trade. Later in 1767, a Townshend Revenue Act was passed by the Parliament to allow for the taxation of tea and other products such as paper, glass, lead, paint, and oil. The act led to protests and boycotts, and it was later repealed, and tea was the only commodity that was excluded from taxation.
The tea act was passed in 1773, and the British East India Company was given the monopoly on the tea sales in the American colonies. Such compelling activities, plus the acts themselves, appear to have radicalized increasing numbers of affected colonists. The circumstantial condition for the East India Company's activities is that since 1770, when all but the tea tax supplies were lifted from the Townshend Acts, the Americans had been bringing in Dutch tea into the country to evade import duties on British tea, "dropping the sale of the Company's tea by nearly two-thirds” (Woods). American colonialists such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock ventured into the lucrative business of smuggling tea. Despite the protests against the Townshend Act, it remained in place, and this enhances further the tea trade that took place. The American colonialists became angry because of the tea tax since they believed that the Tea acts a way of gaining the colonial backing for the tax that was already imposed. The business of the colonial merchants was cut down due to the involvement of the agents in the direct sale of tea. The agents were from the British East India Company. Samuel Adams and John Hancock tried to fight for their economic interests as tea smugglers by opposing the Tea Act. Samuel Adams went to an extent of selling the opposition of British tea to the Patriots on the excuse of the putting to an end of human rights by being taxed without exemplification ('The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations of Revolution').
Hundreds of people participated in the Boston Tea Party remained anonymous for several years after the event took place. After the destruction of the tea, many participants fled Boston to avoid arrest. The sons of liberty who led the event disguised themselves by dressing like Narragansett Indians. Three ships were involved in the Boston Tea Party. The ships were loaded with cargoes of the British East India Company tea and were anchored in the Boston Harbor. The ships were Eleanor, Beaver and Dartmouth. Each ship carried a huge amount of the British East India company tea. The tea in the three ships was offloaded by the sons of liberty led by Samuel Adams (Woods).
About three hundred and forty chests of the British India Company tea that were on in the three ships were crashed open using the axes and were cast off into Boston Harbor the night of December 12, 1773. The tea cargo weighed about 92000 pounds that are roughly 46 tons. Estimating the total damage in today's money that the sons of liberty caused amounts to $1,700,000. The British East India Company reported that the damage could have amounted to 9,659 U.S. dollars (Cory).
The destruction of tea was a great blow to the British since the loss was very high. Despite the destruction of the tea cargo, the ships, and the other items on board were not damaged. The sons of liberty were careful not to destroy any other thing, but only the cargo for the British East India tea. There is nothing that was stolen from the ship, not even the tea. The decks of the ships were swept clean by the sons of liberty after they had ensured that all the tea were destroyed. Everything was then put in place. The intentions of the Sons of Liberty were very deliberate and ensured that nothing else besides tea was destroyed (Labaree).
There was no violence during the Boston Tea Party. Also, there were no confrontations among the patriots and no member of the crew of the three ships, Eleanor, Beaver and Dartmouth were harmed. The Boston Tea Party was one of the earliest and greatest organized rebellion against the British rule. The sons of liberty had planned effectively to ensure that the event was conducted and executed as planned. For several weeks, there had been a lot of smell that emanated from the harbor where the 92,000 pounds of tea were dumped (Labaree). The Boston Harbor was shut down by the British until the time that all the damages were paid for. The policy was implemented under the Boston Port Act that was passed in the Intolerable Acts in 1774.
Works Cited
'Boston Tea Party'. Science 286.5438 (1999): 229c-229. Web. 19 November 2015.
Countryman, E. 'Defiance Of The Patriots: The Boston Tea Party And The Making Of America'. Journal of American History 98.2 (2011): 506-507. Web. 19 November 2015.
'The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations Of Revolution'. Choice Reviews Online 50.06 (2013): 50-3462-50-3462. Web. 19 November 2015.
Labaree, Benjamin Woods. The Boston tea party. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press, 1964. Print.
Gunderson, Cory. Boston Tea Party. Abdo Publishing Company, 2010. Print.