Tea Act 1773

About Tea Act 1773

The Tea Act of 1773 was passed by Parliament to bail out the British East India Company. The act gave the company a rebate on tea duties and allowed it to sell directly to the colonies, bypassing colonial merchants. The Tea Act actually made tea cheaper, even with the tax, than smuggled Dutch tea. But colonists saw the act as an attempt to make them accept the principle of parliamentary taxation. Colonial merchants were angry at being cut out of the trade. The Tea Act led directly to the Boston Tea Party. In response, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, closing Boston Harbor and revoking Massachusetts self government. The Tea Act crisis was one of the key steps toward the American Revolution.