The Boston Tea Party, 1773 (The History)

"The Boston Tea Party, 1773," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2002). ^ | 2002 | Hawkes, James A. et alii

[Syncro]

The Boston Tea Party, 1773

Victory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) agitated the colonists, straining relations with the mother country. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that spurred the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.

Colonialists attack,
tar and feather
a hapless tax collector

The colonies refused to pay the levies required by the Townsend Acts claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by a Parliament in which they had no representation. In response, Parliament retracted the taxes with the exception of a duty on tea - a demonstration of Parliament's ability and right to tax the colonies.

In May of 1773 Parliament concocted a clever plan. They gave the struggling East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to America. Additionally, Parliament reduced the duty the colonies would have to pay for the imported tea. The Americans would now get their tea at a cheaper price than ever before.

However, if the colonies paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them. Tea was a staple of colonial life - it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a cup of tea.

The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy. When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was consigned to a warehouse where it remained for three years until it was sold by patriots in order to help finance the revolution.

In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate.

The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men disguised as Indians assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.

Most colonists applauded the action while the reaction in London was swift and vehement. In March 1774 Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts which among other measures closed the Port of Boston. The fuse that led directly to the explosion of American independence was lit.

Take your tea and shove it.

George Hewes was a member of the band of "Indians" that boarded the tea ships that evening. His recollection of the event was published some years later. We join his story as the group makes its way to the tea-laden ships:

"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 Boston Tea Party

When we arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships which contained the tea at the same time. The name of him who commanded the division to which I was assigned was Leonard Pitt. The names of the other commanders I never knew.

We were immediately ordered by the respective commanders to board all the ships at the same time, which we promptly obeyed. The commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the ship, appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and delivered the articles; but requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or rigging.

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 thrown 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.

...The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it were floating upon the surface of the water; and to prevent the possibility of any of its being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles so thoroughly drenched it as to render its entire destruction inevitable."

References:
   Hawkes, James A, Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party, with a Memoir of George R. T. Hewes... (1834) reprinted in Commager, Henry Steele, Morris Richard B., The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six vol I (1958); Labaree, Benjamin Woods, The Boston Tea Party (1964).

How To Cite This Article:
"The Boston Tea Party, 1773," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2002).

[Syncro]

This is a long read, but necessary what with the tax revolt sweeping this country because of Present Obama and his minions trying to copy old King George.

Colonialists attack,
tar and feather
a hapless tax collector

[wastedyears]

I would imagine those waters to be salt water. I wonder how it would taste with tea added to it...

[GOP Poet]

thank you for posting.

[WKUHilltopper]

The Battle of Concord II may be on it’s way too—when the Brits tried to disarm the population.

[Cindy]

[Cindy]

“...but necessary...”

Yep and thank you Syncro.

[wideminded]

At least part of the impetus for the Boston Tea Party came from American tea merchants who were annoyed that under the Tea Act, the East India company was going to be paying no duties on the tea they were bringing into the Colonies.

In other words the Boston Tea Party can be seen not so much as a protest against a tax, as an action taken to stop a particular company from charging *lower* prices.

[Prole]

What I wouldn’t give to tar and feather the ACORN people for their fraud, deceit and other felonious/treasonous behavior.

[Prole]

The Obamatrons are probably gonna get shot to pieces if they go door to door taking guns away from Americans.

[american_ranger]

No citizen should be asked for more than 10% of his income to be given to the state. I mean that the combination of all taxation from all governmental entities combined should not exceed 10%. This includes all indirect taxes such as taxes on businesses.

If it is good enough for God, It is definitely good enough for man.

[NTHockey]

“The Socialists are coming. The Socialists are coming.” might be Paul Revere’s message today.

Eighty seven years later, the cry was “To arms, To arms.”

It has been 144 years since the last rebellion.

“”God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ...
And what country can preserve its liberties, if it’s rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
Thomas Jefferson

[DeaconRed]

I am ready.
I will dress as an Indian too.
I will Tar & Feather the Tax Collector. . . . . Especially the Chief Tax Collector.

[doberville]

I think not.

I fear our learned apathy will cause most to submit.

[Mouton]

As more and more power flows to the central government here, there is a similarity to the Brits trying to retake control in the 1700’s from the colonies. We had a bit of decentralization with the various tax cuts beginning in the early 60’s. Now there is a move afoot to rein in those cuts and to assume dictatorial powers from DC even to the point of not following some of the bill of rights. The first and second amendments, the most senior, are clearly under attack.

I think the zero and his minions better become familiar with the words that follow these: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

[genetic homophobe]

I think you’re right, but I hope there’re more of us than we think. We’ll find out soon enough.

[genetic homophobe]

I think you’re right, but I hope there’re more of us than we think. We’ll find out soon enough.

[RandallFlagg]

Tobacco was a staple of colonial life - it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a good smoke.

--For modern times.

[TornadoAlley3]