The Boston Tea Party
By Michael A. Signal
The Time is Near
Over two hundred years ago, before the United States even
existed, in Old South Meeting House in Boston, patriots were
preparing for something very important. Men painted their faces, put
on moccasin shoes, and wore whatever they thought would make
them look like Mohawk Indians. Some even took hatchets and clubs.
The weapons were not meant to injure anyone – they would only be
used to break open wooden crates.
Sam Adams,
the leader of the
group, would soon
lead
the
men
towards
Boston
Harbor.
They
would enter onto
ships,
smash
hundreds of crates
of tea, and throw
them
overboard.
Although
people
refer to the Boston
Tea Party as a
“party” – it was
actually a raid!
1 | P a g e On the night of the Boston Tea Party, British ships in Boston Harbor were attacked by angry colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians. The Boston Tea Party
A Reason to Act
The men disguised as Mohawk Indians were the Sons of
Liberty. They were a group of patriots that were unhappy with the
way Britain taxed and governed the American colonies. The Sons of
Liberty, along with many other colonists, didn’t think it was fair that
Britain made strict laws for colonists in America. Even worse – they
did so without asking the colonies’ own governments! The British
king and parliament had been making laws and imposing taxes on
the colonies for years. No matter how much the colonists
disapproved of the new policies, Britain kept adding more. When it
came down to their tea, though, the colonists decided they had had
enough.
The Boston Tea Party was not the
first conflict to occur in Boston
between the British and the colonists.
In 1770, British soldiers fired into a
crowd of angry protestors, killing five
of them. A man named Crispus
Attucks was the first to be shot. Some
consider Attucks to have been the
first person to die in the American
Revolution, even though the war did
not actually start until 1775. Tea was one of Britain’s
favorite drinks. The colonists
loved their tea, too, but there
was a rule that they could only
buy their tea from Britain. The
colonists did not like this,
because British tea was heavily
taxed, and therefore very
expensive.
Many
colonists
ended up smuggling in tea from
other countries because it was
cheaper.
The East India Company,
an English trade company, had
lots of tea in Britain. So much,
in fact, that it was stacked and
stacked in piles in British warehouses. Traders could have sold their
tea at cheap prices to colonists. However, the British government
refused to repeal their tax on tea in America. Colonists were fed up
with paying high taxes. To show their anger, they refused to pay
2 | P a g e The Boston Tea Party
Britain taxes for their tea. The Sons of Liberty decided that it was
time to send a very clear message to the king and the British
government.
Dump the Tea
On December 16, 1773,
before the clock struck
midnight, the Sons of Liberty
destroyed nearly 50 tons of
British
property.
92,000
pounds of the East India
Company’s tea fell to the
bottom of Boston Harbor.
Hoards of disguised men
marched onto three docked
ships. They busted apart Today, the Boston Tea Party is pictured on US postage stamps. every crate of tea they could
find. The raiders dropped 340 crates of tea into the water that night.
The mission of the Sons of Liberty was not to damage the ships
or injure anyone. They only wanted to send a message to the British
government: they would rather destroy their tea than drink it!
Britain Gets the Message
British officials weren’t fooled by the Indian disguises that the
Sons of Liberty wore. They knew who had dumped the tea and why.
The British government enacted a set of harsh laws on the colonists
to retaliate for the Boston Tea Party. These laws are known as the
Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts closed Boston Harbor and
outlawed town meetings, which only angered colonists more. Soon
there would be a war. Soon there would be a revolution. Soon there
would be the United States of America.
3 | P a g e The Boston Tea Party
Enact (v)
to make a law.
Impose (v)
to put in place a law or rule.
Parliament (n)
A part of the British government that makes
laws.
Raid (v)
a sudden attack.
Repeal (v)
to take away or to take back.
Retaliate (v)
to get back at or get revenge. Patriot (n)
a person who loves his or her country.
Smuggle (v)
to bring items into a country illegally.
4 | P a g e