The Boston Tea Party Essay

Submitted By joslynsha
Words: 1301
Pages: 6

Way back in the late 1700 when tea was loved by all British and the newly American colonies, it was also the start of a new age. Who new something as simple and deliciously satisfying as tea could be the start and the dawn of a new age? On December 16, 1773 a very critical even happened that sparked the independence of the United States of America. An event was caused by British parliament out of spite because they did not approve of who the American colonies were buying the precious tea from . This event was known as The Boston Tea Party and would forever be known as one of the sparks in the flame of destiny, “The American Revolution.” In the year of 1767, the demand for tea was sky high because Europeans fell in love with the divine taste. Europe wanted to use this to there advantage, because they had a rival with other companies such as China and the East India Company. The East India Company was a company that sailed from all around and sold things such as tea but also spices as well. Since the company did not import tea to the colonies by law, they were forced to auction it off at whole sale. Often times the British would buy this tea and resell it to the American colonies with more expensive precises. Sometimes a few rebels would smuggle dutch tea at cheaper precises and this really killed the East India Company. They had lost up to 400,000 pounds. To stop this from happening, Parliament passed the indemnity Act. This made the rates on tax lower to the consumers in Great Britain and gave the East India Company a higher income on the tea that was being shipped toe the American Colonies. After tea became popular, parliament felt the need to eliminate foreign companies and competition.

So what they did in order to accomplish this mission was make an act dedicated to tea. All of these events led up to a series of acts known as the Townshend Acts. These laws were named after Charles Townshend and were passed by parliament of Great Britain. He was a chancellor of the Exchequer meaning he was the Treasurer. These laws placed new taxes on glass, lead paints, paper, and of course tea. The Whigs in the colonies rejected the Townshend acts because they did not approve of being taxed on everything. It was agreed that they could not be taxed with out consent of an elected representatives. In other words it meant that taxes could only be approved by parliament. The only down side to this was that the colonist were not aloud to choose who the representative. Tea had become so popular that parliament wanted to use this to there advantage to benefit themselves. They had put together an act that was made to reduce the massive amount of tea being sold by the East India Company. One of the benefits of this Tea Act was to undercut the price of smuggled tea. This was suppose to persuade the colonist to purchase tea produced by great Britain. The Act gave the East India Trading Company the right to directly ship its tea to the American Colonies and the duty of free export of tea from Britain. This also had an effect on the stamp act of 1765, by mobilizing opposition to delivery and distribution of the tea. Boston really did not approve of all of these acts and laws that were being passed during this time. The Americans had learned the cold ugly truth about Great Britain's dirty deeds. The Whigs who were a political party for the colonies had a resistance. Shortly after the french Indian war, a group of resistance was made. It was called the Sons of Liberty and it was formed to raise awareness and convince or compel the consignees to resign, to protect the colonists and to take a stand against Great Britain. One of its own goals was to get rid of the Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act was a tax that

was enforced by Great Britain. This meant that if the materials that were shipped to the colonies had a stamp on it then they would be taxed. One cold late November, some Tea was Shipped to the Boston