The Boston Tea Party
Table of Contents
- Title Page Page-1
- Table of Contents Page-2
- Introduction Page-3
- Chapter 1-Planning Page-4
- Chapter 2-What Happened Page-5
- Chapter 3-Why and What happened After Page-6
- Conclusion Page-7
- Glossary Page-8
Introduction
“Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny”. A quote James Otis was famous for. It meant that the Colonists wanted representation for the laws being passed in Britain. The planning of the tea party was a long but effective process. What happened during the life changing event? Also, why did the colonists do this and what happened after? Learn the answers to these questions if you read on. The Boston Tea Party was a historical event so keep reading to learn tons more about it.
Planning
The colonists believed that Britain should not be able to tax them. The tea tax started it all.
Since Britain was so far away the colonists didn’t think Britain should be able to pass laws on the colonies. The quote I mentioned before “Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny” explains that the colonists were angry about having no representation in Parliament. That quote eventually became the colonists battle cry. Hopefully you understand that the colonists did not want to be controlled by a country smaller than they were. Britain was only an island while America was huge. The colonists just kept getting so angry until on November 28, 1773 the Dartmouth sailed into Boston harbor. The next day an emergency meeting was called.
The meeting was about the tea tax. They originally placed the meeting in Faneuil Hall but they needed to move to the Old South Church because so many people came to the meeting. This told me that many people disliked the tax. In the meeting they talked about the tea tax and everyone agreed that they would not let the tea be unloaded.
19 days after that meeting another meeting was called. It was December 16, one day before the tea tax had to be paid. In the meeting Samuel Adams exclaimed that “this meeting will do no more for this country”. This meeting was the meeting where the colonists decided that The Boston Tea Party would begin. I think that meeting could have been the most important meeting in America's Independence and it led to the Revolutionary War. I think this because that meeting led to The Boston Tea Party which made Parliament very angry and that may have sparked the American Revolution. Another idea that the colonists could have been thinking is that since they were dressed like Native Americans, they would not go to court. If they found out that a person was helping in the tea party Britain would imprison them or kill them for going against the British crown. The planning of this tea party was so precise and accurate that they knew it would take months before London heard of it and sent troops to America. They thought about that at this meeting and they all knew how long it would take for the news to get to London. This was the Start Of The Boston Tea Party!!!
What Happened
December 16, 1773 was a clear, dark night. People disguised themselves with black chalk and dressed like Native Americans. Hundreds of “Native Americans” walked down to the docks. The Native Americans were colonists and the Sons of Liberty. The hundreds of colonists split between the 3 ships. Their cry was “Boston Harbor will be a tea pot tonight!”. When they got on the ships they had the crew open up the storage. The crew obliged and opened up the hold. The colonists brought the tea out and started dumping the tea into the harbor. The crew even started to help. That night the Boston Harbor was a “Tea Pot”. Some colonists went out in boats to scatter the tea out across the harbor. The colonists throw 342 chests of tea in the water which was 1.2 million pounds of tea. All the tea was worth 18,000 British Pounds. That is about 1 million dollars in today's money.
Amazingly only 1 person was hurt. John Crane was the only one hurt. He got hit by a winch and his friends thought he was dead but a few hours later he was fine. Amazingly, no one tried to stop the colonists. There were British troops nearby but they did not try to stop them.
The next day when the British found out what happened, they sent a ship to England with the information. It was a long route to England. I think that because England is so far away it slowed their reaction time to what happened during The Boston Tea Party. The colonists attacked those specific ships because they came from the West India Tea company and buying their tea was like the company “winning the monopoly”. I think that this was just all about colonists wanting representatives in parliament. I wonder what would have happened if the colonies had representatives in parliament.
Why and What happened After The Boston Tea Party
Before the Boston Tea Party
The tea act was why the colonists got so angry. Britain imposed taxes because they were in debt to France. The tax was passed in 1773 by parliament. It placed a 3 cent tax on each pound of tea. The colonists tarred and feathered tax collectors. Britain was an island so the colonies didn't want to be taxed by a country across the Atlantic Ocean.
Another act which led to the tea party was the Townshend Acts which put a tax on tea. In 1773 the tea act was passed. It meant that the East India Company could sell its tea directly to the colonists without paying a tax. That meant that when the tea got to the colonies the tax had to be paid by the colonists. The colonists thought it was very unfair to have taxation without representatives. I think that because the colonists and Sons of Liberty made the Boston Tea Party. After the tea party Francis Akeley was imprisoned for participating in the tea party.
After the Boston Tea Party
The Coercive Acts came next. They prevented ships from coming and leaving the Boston Harbor. I think this would be very hard on the people in Boston because they could not get supplies from other countries. I think that since the Coercive Acts came after the tea party that the acts were punishments due to the Tea Party. Parliament were so angry they closed Boston Harbor to shipping and King George and they believed parliament should still be able to tax the colonies. They started the tea tax and the Coercive Acts. The acts angered the colonists. They called them the intolerable acts.
A month later the first Continental Congress assembled. This was a group of people who were selected from each state to represent them. All the colonies came except Georgia for an unknown reason. In their illegal meeting they talked about the “intolerable act” and what they were going to do about it. They met in Carpenter's Hall in 1774 to debate behind locked doors.
They agreed that they would continue boycotts of British goods and that every colony would begin training Militias. They were to keep training them for an impending war. Within the year 1774 Britain passed a law relieving all taxes from colonies that believed in the British government. But the news of the law did not reach America before the fighting began.
Conclusion
The Boston Tea Party was a turning point which eventually led to the American Revolution. The planning of this event was very precise and accurate. In addition, the colonists wanted representation in parliament so the Boston Tea Party was born. Lastly, the colonists had good reason to protest the unfair taxation, and even after the Tea Party, the British government continued to tax the people. What would you do if you lived during the time of the Boston Tea Party?
Glossary
- Tyranny-cruel and oppressive government or rule.
- Representation-Acting on behalf of group of people.
- Precise-marked by exactness and accuracy of expression or detail.
- Accurate-(of information, measurements, statistics, etc.) correct in all details; exact.
- Sons of Liberty-A group of people united talking against the British
- Parliament-(in the UK) It is the highest legislature, consisting of the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons.
- Militia-a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency.
