The Boston Tea Party

The East India Tea Company was going bankrupt. This led to the Tea Act of 1773 which allowed the company to sell tea directly to the colonies. This lowered the price of tea but there was still a tax on the tea.

There were no colonists in the British Parliament which led to cries of "No taxation without representation!"

The Sons of Liberty, led by Sam Adams and John Hancock had meetings to figure out how to get their message across to the British.

Three ships arrived in Boston with a total of 342 chests of tea.

At 7:00 PM on December 16, 1773 about 180 people boarded the three ships in Boston Harbor and threw 45 tons of tea overboard.

This greatly angered the British and Parliament promptly passed a series of acts they called the Coercive Acts.
The colonists called these
the Intolerable Acts.

Intolerable Acts

• Closed the port of Boston until all the tea had been paid for
• Dissolved the Massachusetts Assembly
• Forced the colonies to quarter more soldiers

Tea Party Timeline