THE BOSTON TEA PARTY

What Happened?
The causes of the Boston Tea Party started with the Tea Act. The Tea Act was created for the King to tax the colonists for tea that was imported for the purpose of Great Britain to pay back debts to East India. The colonists were also not allowed to buy tea from any other country other than the tea being imported from East India. The Tea Act formed many controversial opinions about whether or not the American colonists should pay taxes without declaration of the colonists; This started the famous saying, “No taxation without representation!” Another cause the Tea Act started was a group called the Sons Of Liberty.The Sons of Liberty were a grassroots group of instigators and provocateurs in colonial America who used an extreme form of civil disobedience, threats and in some cases actual violence to intimidate loyalists and outrage the British government.




While the Tea Act provided money for the king, many colonists did not agree on being taxed without consent for something so simple, so an infuriated group of individuals, known as the “Sons Of Liberty” decided to throw 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor, to show the king that the American colonists would not be taxed without consent. This created the saying, “No Taxation Without Representation!” This event led to a very important change in history.

Long-Term Effects
The Boston Tea Party changed history forever. That’s a big statement, but I strongly believe it. Why? Because without the Boston Tea Party, America would have never been free from custody of the British Parliament.
After the Boston Tea Party, the British Government created the Intolerable Acts, a set of laws that closed parts of Boston until the American Colonists paid for tea and destroyed government. After these sets of laws were passed, the American colonists joined together to create the 1st Continental Congress of 1774.
On September 5, 1774, delegates from each of the 13 colonies—except Georgia, which was fighting a Native American uprising and was dependent on the British for military supplies—met at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to the Intolerable Acts recently passed by the British Parliament.After much discussion, the Congress issued a Declaration of Rights, affirming its loyalty to the British Crown but disputing the British Parliament’s right to tax it without representation in the parliament. The Congress also passed the Articles of Association, which called on the colonies to stop importing goods from the British Isles beginning on December 1, 1774, if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed. Should Britain fail to redress the colonists’ grievances in a timely manner, the Congress declared, then it would reconvene on May 10, 1775, and the colonies would cease to export goods to Britain on September 10, 1775. After proclaiming these measures, the First Continental Congress disbanded on October 26, 1774.
Now, what does this all mean? In very simple terms:
The Boston Tea Party created Intolerable Acts, which were laws passed by the British Government to close down parts of Boston until all damage was repaid, which then led to the 1st Continental Congress, a list of rights delegates made to send to the King, but the King disbanded the list to the colonies. After all of these events, The Boston Tea Party ended up giving freedom to the American Colonists through the Declaration of Independence (soon after these events), Which made History change forever.

Work Cited
Continental Congress: First, Second & Definition | HISTORY, 4 February 2010, https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/the-continental-congress#The%... Accessed 10 December 2023.

What Was Happening?
Behind the famous face of the Boston Tea Party, many things were happening behind-the-scenes. For one, mercantilism. Mercantilism is a system in which where the original 13 colonies of America produced raw materials and wealth for the mother country, known mostly as Britain. Behind the Boston Tea Party, the American Colonists were supporting their mother country through mercantilism, where the southern colonies would produce cotton, the mid-atlantic colonies would produce bread and wheat, and the New England colonies would produce fish and lumber. With all of this happening, the colonists were already tired of working blindly for Britain and on top of that, the King decided to tax them for tea.
Another thing that was going on behind-the-scenes was the Sons Of Liberty.
The Sons of Liberty were a grassroots group of instigators and provocateurs in colonial America who used an extreme form of civil disobedience—threats, and in some cases actual violence—to intimidate loyalists and outrage the British government. The Sons Of Liberty were very imperative toward the Boston Tea Party, because the Sons Of Liberty mostly intimidated the American Colonists to be on their side, to bring down the King, so the Americans could have freedom from captivity.



How Did It Happen?
The Boston Tea party sounds like a pretty big event, right? That’s because it is, and something like this can’t just happen overnight, right? Well it didn’t; The Boston Tea Party started with the Tea Act of 1773. The Tea Act was created for the King to tax the colonists for tea that was imported so the King could pay back debts towards East India. The Tea Act made many colonists angry that the King taxed the colonists without consent. This started the famous saying, “No Taxation Without Representation!” A group of individuals whom despised the King’s formalities created a group called The Sons Of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty were a grassroots group of instigators and provocateurs in colonial America who used an extreme form of civil disobedience—threats, and in some cases actual violence—to intimidate loyalists and outrage the British government.
One late night on December 16th of 1773, the Sons of Liberty dressed up as Native Indians and boarded and attacked ships. An eyewitness to the Boston Tea Party, John Andrews, wrote in a letter:
“They mustered, I’m told, upon Fort Hill, to the number of about two hundred, and proceeded, two by two, to Griffin’s wharf, where Hall, Bruce, and Coffin lay, each with 114 chests of the ill-fated article on board… and before nine o’clock in the evening, every chest from on board the three vessels was knocked to pieces and flung over the sides. They say the actors were Indians from Narragansett. Whether they were or not, to a transient observer they appeared as such, being clothed in blankets with the heads muffled, and copper-colored countenances, being each armed with a hatchet or axe, and pair pistols, nor was their dialect different from what I conceive these geniuses to speak, as their jargon was unintelligible to all but themselves…”

Works Cited
Hewes, George. “An Eyewitness Account of the Boston Tea Party.” George Robert Twelves Hewes, 14 June 2017, https://georgehewes.com/an-eyewitness-account-of-the-boston-tea-party/. Accessed 10 December 2023.
Kiger, Patrick J. Who Were the Sons of Liberty? | HISTORY, 19 August 2019, https://www.history.com/news/sons-of-liberty-members-causes. Accessed 10 December 2023.
Short-Term Effects

The short-term effects of the Boston Tea Party were the intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts of 1774, in the American colonies, were a series of four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. The four acts were the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act. These oppressive acts sparked strong colonial resistance, including the meeting of the First Continental Congress, which George Washington attended in September and October 1774.
The Intolerable Acts were made as an act of punishment for the American Colonists by creating laws that shut down parts of Boston until the colonists paid for the tea they threw overboard and destroyed government, an event caused by the Tea Act, which led to the Sons Of Liberty ( a group of individuals who used civil disobedience to try to outrage the British Government) dressed up as Natives, to board and attack ships, and throw chests of tea into the Boston Harbor.

Work Cited
“The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774 · George Washington's Mount Vernon.” Mount Vernon, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/... Accessed 10 December 2023.