I suppose I should take a step back and say something more about the Boston Tea Party. It’s one of the most important events leading up to the American Revolution, so it’s certainly worth talking about. And it makes a great story — after all, who would have thought that dumping a bunch of tea in the ocean would eventually lead to an eight-year war?
The problem with the tea was NOT taxes. Taxes were one of the main things that the colonies and the British government had been fighting about for years, but this time it was different. The Tea Act didn’t change the tax on tea; in fact, it made it so the colonists could buy tea cheaper than before. But in doing so, it gave the East India Company an unfair advantage — a monopoly, really — in the tea market. Not surprisingly, colonial merchants weren’t too fond of that. And the idea that Parliament might do the same thing for other types of goods was just too much. That was why the radicals succeeded in uniting so many colonists to oppose this law.
The East India Company sent shiploads of tea to four cities in America. At New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, South Carolina, mass meetings and protests prevented the tea from being unloaded and sold. But in Boston, things came down to a standoff: the governor (who was appointed by the King) wouldn’t let the tea ships leave, and the rebellious citizens (led by Samuel Adams and others) wouldn’t let them unload their cargo. On December 16th, 1773, the issue came to a head.
George Hewes, who participated in the Boston Tea Party, recalled many years later:
It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin’s wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place of our destination.
The “tea party” had been well planned and was carried out in an orderly manner. The “Indians” split into three groups, boarded the three ships, and asked the captains for the keys to the cargo holds.
We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water.
In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and throws overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time. We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us.
While the tea was being thrown overboard, some people tried to sneak some of it into their pockets for their own use. Some of them were caught, but others doubtless went home with some free tea. The next morning, people went out in boats to destroy any tea that was still floating.
This unique demonstration was like a match that lit the fuse to a bomb. The King and Parliament were outraged, and they passed several laws that became known as the Coercive (or Intolerable) Acts. Those laws fired things up even more, especially in Massachusetts, until the bomb finally went off in April of 1775.