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On a chilly December evening in 1773, approximately 150 American colonists, disguised as Mohawk Indians, stole on board three ships docked in Boston Harbor. The colonists took large casks of tea from the ships' cargo hold and dumped the tea into the waters of Boston Harbor. By morning, more than 45 tons of tea, estimated to be worth 10,000 pounds, had been destroyed.

This was the Boston Tea Party. Simmering anger and colonial resentment steeped to the point of violent bitterness. In the end, the Boston Tea Party would be one of many clashes between Britain and the colonies that would eventually erupt into one of the defining events of world history - the American Revolution.

Money was one of the main causes of the Boston Tea Party. In 1763, just ten years before the events in Boston Harbor, Britain had finally managed to triumph in the French and Indian War. But victory had been costly and Britain was in a great deal of debt. So King George III and Parliament did what any empire would do it looked to its colonies to provide it with cash.

However, by 1763, the American colonies had gotten more than a taste of independence, thanks to Britain's preoccupation with the war, and they liked it. Getting them to go back to being loyal' subjects of the crown would be no small feat. The colonists, in particular, didn't want to pay any taxes unless they were represented in Parliament.

Britain thought this notion was preposterous, and passed the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767, and these were as welcome as a stripper at high tea. The colonists protested, and even ignored the laws outright. Eventually, much of the taxes were repealed, leaving only a tax on tea. Tea, it must be noted, was the beverage of choice among the colonists, so a tax on tea would be akin to taxing people for going to Starbucks today.

Apparently not out to win any popularity contests, Britain added to this already volatile mix a company called the British East India Company. The company was sitting on large reserves of tea that it couldn't sell in Britain, and was on the brink of bankruptcy. Luckily for the company, it had powerful friends in high places and these friends managed to convince Parliament to pass the Tea Act of 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell its tea to the American colonies without paying any taxes at all, thereby giving it a tax break that would allow it to undercut its colonial competitors.

Tea merchants in the colonies, among them John Hancock,

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