Boston Teaparty :: essays research papers

Boston Tea troupeIn 1773, Britains East India Comp either was session on large stocks of teatime that it could not sell in England. It was on the verge of bankruptcy. In an effort to save it, the government passed the Tea deed of conveyance of 1773, which gave the company the right to export its merchandise directly to the colonies without paying any of the regular taxes that were imposed on the compound merchants, who had traditionally served as the middlemen in such transactions. With these privileges, the company could undersell American merchants and monopolize the colonial tea trade. The act proved inflammatory for several reasons. First, it angered influential colonial merchants, who feared being replaced and bankrupted by a powerful monopoly. The East India Companys decision to permit franchises to certain American merchants for the sale of their tea created further resentments among those excluded from this lucrative trade. to a greater extent important, however, the Te a Act revived American passions about the issue of tax without representation. The law provided no new tax on tea. Lord marriage assumed that most colonists would welcome the new law because it would reduce the monetary value of tea to consumers by removing the middlemen. But the colonists responded by ostraciseing tea. Unlike earlier protests, this boycott mobilized large segments of the population. It also helped link the colonies together in a green experience of mass popular protest. Particularly important to the movement were the activities of colonial women, who were one of the principal consumers of tea and now became the leaders of the effort to the boycott. different colonies made plans to prevent the East India Company from landing its cargoes in colonial ports. In ports other than Boston, agents of the company were "persuaded" to resign, and new shipments of tea were either returned to England or warehoused. In Boston, the agents refused to resign and, with t he support of the royal governor, preparations were made to land entry cargoes regardless of opposition. After failing to turn back the three ships in the harbor, local patriots led by Samuel Adams staged a spectacular drama. On the evening of December 16, 1773, three companies of fifty men each, masquerading as mohawk haircut Indians, passed through a tremendous crowd of spectators, went aboard the three ships, bust open the tea chests, and heaved them into the harbor.As the electrifying news of the Boston "tea party" spread, other seaports followed the example and staged similar acts of resistance of their own.