Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a protest by American colonists (These people were known as patriots) against King George III's rule in America. It happened on December 16, 1773.[2]
The Boston Tea Party was an act of protest against the British for the Tea Act, one of several new attempts to tax colonists. The Americans had no one to speak for them in the British government. They were frustrated that they were being taxed by the government but had no part in how the government was run. They did not think it was right to pay taxes when they did not have a representative in the government ("No taxation without representation!"). Also, merchants selling their goods would lose their profit because of the taxes. The Americans began purchasing smuggled goods, which were much cheaper.
To show how angry they were, the Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams, dressed up as Native Americans and went onto ships in the Boston Harbor. They took boxes of tea and dumped them into the water. The British government was enraged about this. Parliament made even stricter laws for the colonies, later called the Intolerable Acts. One of the Acts, the Boston Port Act, closed Boston Harbor until the colonists paid for all the tea they dumped. Another Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, took away the right of Boston to govern itself.
The Boston Tea Party was one of the main events that started the American Revolutionary War.
David Kinnison [1764[?]-1852] who served briefly in the American Revolution [3][4] also claimed to have been a member of the Boston Tea Party.[5]...although he would have been only 9 years old at the time!
Boston Tea Party Media
This iconic 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier was entitled The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor; the phrase "Boston Tea Party" had not yet become standard. Contrary to Currier's depiction, few of the men dumping the tea were actually disguised as Native Americans.
A notice from the "Chairman of the Committee for Tarring and Feathering" in Boston denouncing the tea consignees as "traitors to their country"
1789 engraving of the destruction of the tea
A plaque commemorating the Boston Tea Party, currently affixed to side of the Independence Wharf Building in Boston
The Boston Tea Party Museum in Fort Point Channel
In 1973, the US Post Office issued a set of four stamps, together making one scene of the Boston Tea Party.
Replica of the Beaver in Boston
References
- ↑ Alexander, Revolutionary Politician, 125–26
- ↑ Labaree, Benjamin Woods (1979). The Boston Tea Party. Boston: Northeastern University Press. pp. 141–144. ISBN 0930350057.
- ↑ "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the American revolution Vol 9 p.124". 1902.
- ↑ "Kennierson, David. Return of recruits sent by Massachusetts as portion of her quota of the Continental Army subsequent to Jan. 1, 1781, who were reported unfit for duty; 2d Mass regt.; age 17 years.; statute 4 ft. 9 in.; enguaged for town of Lebanon; term 3 years; reported under size." {Ibid.p.124}
- ↑ "David Kinnison's Tea Party". Retrieved April 25, 2018.
Other websites
- Boston Tea Party -history.com
- The Boston Tea Party Historical Society
