The Boston Tea Party was not really a party. It got that name because thousands of pounds of tea were dumped into the sea by protestors. Imagine what a scene that would have been to see tea washing up the shores weeks after the incident? No wonder the incident was given the name Boston Tea Party. It must have been hilarious and also frightening.
The Boston Tea Party was stages to protest the taxation that the British government was levying on the colonies. The colonies, which were controlled and governed by the British, did not have any representatives in the British parliament. Hence, the colonists did not have the ability to vote on how they could be taxed or who would represent them and speak out about their problems. As a result, the British government could impose any taxes for any amount and the people could do nothing about it. They could not fight the taxes and could claim their rights. The people were always frightened that if they raised their voices against the unfair tax practices, they would end up losing their land for defaulting on the taxes.
As the British government had no limits on taxing the colonies in North America, it imposed many different types of taxes. However, the people opposed these taxes and some were modified, while others were repealed. Nonetheless, the taxes stayed on and this caused tensions between the colonies and the British government. However, the tensions were extremely high in Boston, where the British had place soldiers to quell any form of uprising. This occurred in October 1768.
Some people may ask why did the people use tea as a form of protest. The answer to this is actually very simple. Like all British people, even the colonists loved drinking tea. It is estimated that the colonists consume a minimum of 1.2 million pounds of tea every year. Furthermore, tea was a link between the colonists and the British government. The British East India Company was the only company that had the legal right to import tea into the colonies, and the British government imposed heavy taxes on tea, so that it could fund the French and Indian War, tea was not cheap. This led to the smuggling of tea that was much cheaper than the British tea from other countries. So, people preferred to buy the cheap tea than drink the expensive British tea. The British government removed the taxes on tea when it found that people in the colonies were not buying it. However, this repeal did not last for long. The government went one step further and imposed taxes on goods that were imported into the colonies. This furthered angered the people and led to more protests. Then in 1773, the British government passed the Tea Act that allowed the British East India Company to import tea into the colonies by just levying a tax of three pence on each shipment. While this brought down the price of tea, the colonies were still upset for being taxed. So, the local merchants refused to sell the British tea even though it now cost less money. These sentiments were at their peak in Boston and ultimately the people showed their displeasure by staging the Boston Tea Party. |
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The French and Indian War that the British were fighting was an expensive war. It nearly emptied the British coffers. Hence, to make money, the British government levied taxes on the colonies in North America. It was also a way of getting back control of the colonies that had become quite independent. So, the British imposed a series of taxes on the colonies. However, instead of gaining control over the colonies, the taxes caused more problems. Now the people were up in arms against the British. They felt that when they did not have representation in the British parliament, they should not be paying taxes. 