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Break from the Grind November 27, 2017
TRIVIAL PURSUITS: What Were Colonists Protesting With the Boston Tea Party?
You may have thought that colonists participating in the Boston Tea Party were protesting taxes the British enforced on tea, but that is not the case.
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What were colonists protesting with the Boston Tea Party?
Tea was at first heavily taxed by the British, but the columnists circumvented this tax by buying less expensive, smuggled Dutch Tea. This resulted in an abundance of surplus tea for the British.
To encourage colonists to buy its tea, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act, which eliminated all duties on British tea and priced it below the cost of the Dutch tea.
Despite this, many colonists resented British involvement in what they regarded as the American (not British) economy, so they refused to allow the unloading of British tea.
Then, on December 16, 1773, about 60 men, dressed as American Indians, dumped the cargo of tea from three British ships into Boston Harbor.