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What started as an act of protest against taxes and monopolies quickly joined all American colonists together against Great Britain and lead to a boycott of tea. It was also one of the initial sparks that set off the American Revolution.

On the 16th of December 1773, 3 ships failed to leave the port in Boston as about 150 American colonists dressed as Mohawks, climbed on board the ships and threw all the tea into the water. For several days you could see tea floating outside of Boston and the famous incident, The Boston Tea Party, was widely heard of and copied throughout the colony. In order to fully understand the scoop of this occurrence, you need to know about the political arena of that time and the relationship between Britain and America.

During this period, America was under the rule of the British Crown, and Great Britain consequently had the power to enforce taxes upon the Americans. As the American people weren't given any representation in the British Parliament, they disliked the fact that taxes were forced upon them. Especially the "1765 Stamp Act" and the" Townsend Act of 1967" angered the Americans.

The first one, the Stamp Act, enforced taxes on all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, wills, pamphlets and playing cards in the American colonies, so that the military presence of Great Britain could be paid for. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Townsend, then imposed an import tax, the Townsend Act, on produce such as lead, paper, paint, glass, and tea, so that the colonies would bear the brunt of the cost for the French and Indian war. As Great Britain had defended America in this war, Townsend thought it was only fair that Americans should carry the financial burden.

When these import taxes weren't paid by the colonists, their ships was seized by British customs officials and the owners tried in court. Often the defendants were charged and convicted with smuggling. One of these "smugglers", John Hancock, organized a boycott of Chinese tea sold by Britain's East India Company. This of course led to the fact that The East India Company couldn't sell their tea, and so were on the verge of bankruptcy.

The smugglers still imported a lot of tea, which they didn't pay taxes on, and so could undercut the price that the East India Company charged. In an attempt to save Britain's East India Company from financial ruin, Great Britain passed the Tea Act of 1773. This act gave the East India Company the right to export its goods directly to the colonies, without having to pay the regular taxes that the colonial merchants had to pay. This meant that the East India Company could sell below the prices of both the American merchants and even the smugglers, and so held a monopoly on the market.

All of this led to a very inflamed situation where the colonists joined together as never before. A number of colonies made plans to prevent ships from landing in their harbor, making sure those agents of the company resigned and that the ships went back to Great Britain. This was the famous Boston Tea Party and the boycott of British sold tea.

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