Boston Tea Party

In 1773, the Tea Act gave the East India Tea Company the right to ship tea directly from China to America, putting many American tea importers out of business, in an attempt to combat smuggling.

At that time, tea drinking was as popular in the American colonies as in Britain, and Americans were outraged by the imposition by Lord North of tax on tea in both Britain & America.

On 16th December, 1773, 30 - 60 men, disguised as Indians, boarded ships owned by the British East India Tea Company. Once aboard, they smashed open the tea cargoes from wooden chests and threw them overboard. Washed up on shore the next morning, the cargo was worthless. Other ports followed suit and every patriotic American gave up tea drinking and turned to coffee.

The Boston Tea Party, as it became known, led the British Parliament to pass a series of laws that Americans referred to as the "Intolerable Acts", limiting the political and geographical freedom of the colonists. These unjust acts were the direct cause for the convening of the First Continental Congress, which ultimately led to the Revolutionary War.