Illustration of colonists throwing tea off British ships during Boston Revolution

Illustrations by Randy Pollak; Shutterstock.com (all other images) 

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Tea. Taxes. Revolution.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Boston Tea Party helped spark the war for America’s independence. 

December 4, 2023
By Rebecca Zissou

As You Read, Think About: How did the Boston Tea Party affect America?

It was a cold December night 250 years ago. Joshua Wyeth quietly made his way to Boston Harbor in Massachusetts. The 15-year-old risked being arrested or even killed for what he was about to do. Joshua was part of a sneak attack on three ships docked in the harbor. The goal was to destroy the ships’ cargo: tea. 

Joshua and about 100 others smashed open more than 300 crates of tea. They dumped them into the water.

The protest would later become known as the Boston Tea Party. The events of that night changed the course of history—and led to the birth of the United States.

Trouble Brewing

At the time, Massachusetts was one of the 13 Colonies ruled by Great Britain. Anger had been brewing in the Colonies for years. In the 1760s, the British passed new taxes. The colonists were forced to pay extra fees on items such as sugar, paper, and tea. Many of them were outraged. After all, the colonists had no say in the British government. So why should they pay taxes to Britain? The colonists called this “taxation without representation.”

To protest the taxes, many colonists refused to buy British goods. One boycott hit the British especially hard—the one on tea from Britain’s East India Company. Most colonists had begun drinking tea smuggled in from other countries instead. 

The colonists drank 1.2 million pounds of tea each year.

Source: Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum

As a result, the company was losing money. So in May 1773, Britain passed the Tea Act. It allowed the East India Company to sell its tea at very low prices. But the cheaper tea didn’t change the colonists’ minds. They saw the Tea Act as yet another way for Britain to control them.

Overboard! 

Later that fall, three ships carrying tea from the East India Company arrived in Boston Harbor. A group of colonists demanded that the ships leave. But weeks went by, and the ships remained. 

On December 16, Joshua and the others sprang into action. Wearing disguises, they climbed aboard the ships. Using axes, they smashed chest after chest of tea and threw them into the water. In less than three hours, they had destroyed about 92,000 pounds of tea.

No Turning Back 

To punish the colonists, Britain passed a series of harsh laws. One closed the Port of Boston until the colonists paid for the destroyed tea. That prevented food and other goods from entering the city. Historian Benjamin Carp says this was the final straw for the colonists.

“They said, ‘Enough is enough,’” he explains.

In April 1775, the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. Joshua joined the fighting that summer. The colonists’ long battle for independence was underway. And a new nation would soon be born.

The Fight for Freedom

The road to independence was long. Here are some key moments from the American Revolution. 

1775: On April 19, the first shots of the American Revolution are fired at Lexington and Concord, two towns near Boston. 

1775: George Washington is named commander of the Continental Army in June. 

1776: Representatives from the Colonies approve the Declaration of Independence on July 4. It announces that the Colonies are no longer under British rule. 

1781: The last major battle of the Revolution is fought at Yorktown, Virginia. British General Cornwallis surrenders on October 19. 

1783: The U.S. and Britain sign a peace agreement, called the Treaty of Paris. The United States is officially its own nation.

1. Based on the article, what were colonists hoping to accomplish by destroying tea during the Boston Tea Party?

2. What did colonists mean by “taxation without representation”?

3. What is the meaning of the expression “the final straw”? What was the final straw for colonists?

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