Review: The Boston Tea Party

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Most history books do a decent job of explaining what happened during the Boston Tea Party, but having a first-hand account of what occurred would be a lot more beneficial to those wishing to learn intimate details about the events that happened. George Hewes is a man who participated in the Boston Tea Party and wrote an explanation as to what happened. His account describes particular events and ideas that were presented against Parliament.
The British colonies were looking forward to being separated from England, and this included their laws and taxes. During 1773, Parliament put forward the Tea Act. This act was originally put in place in order to save the East India Company from potential bankruptcy. The Tea Act allowed the East India
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The group was divided into three smaller groups, one for each ship (Hewes). This in itself shows that they were willing and able to govern themselves. According to Hewes, each leader sent a colonist to retrieve the keys from the captain of each ship so they could easily unlock the chests, as not to make a mess. The captain of Hewes’s ship gave the keys up, with no fuss, but he did request that his ship not be damaged or the ship’s rigging. Once the order had been given, the rebels split open all of the chests and threw them overboard (Hewes). However, absolutely no damage was done to the ships. This shows that the Sons of Liberty were acting solely against the rule of Parliament and not against those trying to make a living. They had respect for the merchants and their ships because they were being controlled by the Tea Act. It was the local merchants that had been hurt by the new law, and destroying their ships would be the end of their livelihood. The ships were surrounded by British forces, but no attempt was made to stop them because it would have made the situation worse and could have even lead to a riot …show more content…
They did this so that there was little to no possibility of any tea being saved (Hewes). The Sons of Liberty not only wanted all of the tea destroyed because it was unfair to local merchants for the tea to be directly unloaded into the harbor, but also to make a statement. The Sons of Liberty were so against the Tea Act that they put themselves and the lives of others in danger because once Parliament realized what they had done, Parliament would try to punish them. After the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts which closed the Boston harbor until the tea was paid for, allowed governors to choose members on the council, and allowed military commanders to house their soldiers in private homes (Fortner 148). This greatly angered the colonists, and it was a seen as an unswerving threat to their freedom. This further strained the relationship and made more colonists hate Parliament, which could have been a leading factor in declaring their