by Sally Morem

Created on: August 24, 2009

This is the story of how colonists turned Boston Harbor into a giant teapot.

After the colonists refused to pay the taxes assessed under the Townsend Acts, Parliament repealed the taxes with the exception for those assessed on tea. Parliament wished to make it clear that it had the right to tax colonists, even though they had no representatives in Parliament.

Parliament gave the East India Company a monopoly on tea in America and gave Americans a lower duty for tea. However, if they bought the tea, they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them.

It was a tempting offer, but the colonists didn't bite. Tea-laden ships were not allowed to land in any American port. The arrival of three tea ships in Boston ignited an uproar. On December 16, 1773, thousands of Bostonians milled about the harbor after a mass meeting voted to order the ships to leave without unloading the tea. The Collector of Customs at the harbor refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of duty. The ships' captains didn't want to pay duty and leave without off-loading the tea.

A group of about 200 men, many dressed as Mohawk Indians, decided to break the stalemate. They marched to the harbor, and divided into three groups, one per ship.

In the words of George Hewes, a participant, "We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water.

"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. We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us.

"The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it were floating upon the surface of the water; and to prevent the possibility of any of its being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles so thoroughly drenched it as to render its entire destruction inevitable."

Most colonists applauded the Boston Tea Party. The actions that evening spurred others on in their resistance to British rule. Other colonists, such as Ben Franklin, urged Americans to pay for the tea. They considered the destruction of the tea to be a lawless act of vandalism. American merchants in London went to Lord North and offered to pay for the tea. They were turned down. Several other tea ships' captains resolved to sail away from American ports without paying duty.

When Parliament punished Boston by passing the Intolerable Acts in 1774, closing Boston Harbor, among other things, all attempts at reconciliation ended. The way was opened to revolution and independence. The Battle of Lexington and Concord was only a year away.

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