Boston Tea Party

About Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party occurred on December 16, 1773, when American colonists dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor. The Tea Act of 1773 gave the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies and retained the tea tax. Colonists saw this as taxation without representation. The Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded three ships and destroyed 92,000 pounds of tea worth 9,659. The British government responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by colonists, which closed Boston Harbor and revoked self government. The Boston Tea Party was one of the key events leading to the American Revolution.