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were outraged at this act of favoritism. The colonists boycotted the favored' tea, as well as smuggling in its own tea to maintain their economic viability. Things reached a head when the HMS Dartmouth and two other ships from the British East India Company sailed into Boston Harbor in November of 1773. There was a standoff, and the tea could not be unloaded, and the Sons of Liberty, headed by Samuel Adams, staged several large protest meetings. Colonial anger and frustration reached a full boil on the night of December 16th, and the result was a harbor full of ruined tea.

In its wake, many colonists, including Benjamin Franklin, called for the colonists to pay for the destroyed tea. Britain ordered reparations. The Boston colonists remained defiant, and Parliament reacted to this further act of insolence by passing several laws, commonly referred by the colonists as the Intolerable Acts.' In essence, the laws closed Boston Harbor until reparations were paid, severely curtailed the colonists' ability to self-govern and required colonists to quarter British soldiers in their barns or empty houses.

With the passing of the Intolerable Acts, the Britain and American colonies became locked in a battle of wills that would result in the ultimate act of defiance by the colonists - declaring independence from Britain.

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