Who Was Involved In The Boston Tea Party ?
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. |
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The colonies refused to pay taxes to the British government. So, the government repealed the taxes, but kept duty on tea. It was the government's way to show that it had the right as well as the ability to tax its colonies. However, this too did not go down well with the colonies. Later, in the year 1773, when the British East India Company was struggling financially, the government gave it permission to import tea into the colonies while reducing the duty on the tea. However, the colonies felt that if they bought this cheap tea, they would be accepting that the British government had the right to impose taxes on them. Hence, they still decided to boycott the British tea being imported by the British East India Company.
One group of men decided to show their displeasure by staging a daring act. This act went on to be called the Boston Tea Party, as this group of men dumped around 90,000 pounds of British tea into the sea. This incident occurred in Boston. The group consisted of around 200 men, who had disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians. They marched to the wharf where three British cargo ships were docked laden with tea. Initially, the men claimed to be longshoremen and brought the tea crates from the hold onto the deck. Then they went about dumping the contents of the crates into the water.
There were many men involved in this, and they all came from different strata of the society. Some of them were carpenters, masons and shoemakers, while others were merchants, clerks and doctors. Though all the members of the groups were not known, as some preferred to keep their participation a secret, many of them were well known figures and included the likes of Thomas Crafts, Samuel Cooper, George Hewes, David Kinnison, Thomas Melville, and the famous Paul Revere. In addition, there were many others, such as Francis Akeley, Nathaniel Barber, Nathaniel Greene, Timothy Guy, Samuel Barnard, Samuel Hammond, Henry Bass, Peter Harrington, Joseph Bassett, William Haskins, Edward Bates, William Hendley, Adam Beals Jr, Samuel Hobbs, Nathaniel Bradlee, Elijah Houghton, Amos Lincoln, John Crane, William Molineaux, Joseph Payson, Samuel Coolidge and many more.
More Articles :
Eyewitness To History: The Boston Tea Party, 1773
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm
Boston Tea Party Historical Society: The Complete List Of Participants
http://www.boston-tea-party.org/participants/participants.html
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When the Boston Tea Party occurred, it was a wake up call for the British government. More than 90,000 pounds of tea were dumped into the waters at the Boston Harbor. However, even then the British government did not take the protest too seriously. Nonetheless, it is claimed that the Boston Tea Party was responsible for starting the American Revolution that ultimately led to the colonies gaining their independence from colonial rule and forming the United States of America. 