Formed on December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party set the wheels for the American revolutionary war when American colonialists opposed the constitutionality of duty on tea imposed by the Tea Act. Efforts to save the collapsing East India Company compelled the British Parliament to introduce the Tea Act in May 1773 to lower the revenues it paid to the British government hence granting it a de facto monopoly in the American tea market (Whiting and Kjelle 9). Monopolizing the tea trade between the British East India Company and the American Colonies undercut the business of colonial merchants who firmly opposed the bill, perceived to promote tyranny. In Massachusetts, the Boston Tea Party launched the final spark of political protest and revolution among the American colonists.
Formation of the Boston Tea Party
Even after authorizing the British East India Company to trade duty-free tea in the colonies, making it cheaper than other companies, the British Parliament imposed a port tax that motivated colonists to rail against British control. Although tea smuggling increased after the bill, the prices of smuggled tea could not compete with taxed tea from the British East India Company. Colonial merchants vehemently protested the tea tax for the interest of their tea smuggling operations. Moreover, the Sons of Liberty, a group of revolutionists founded to protest preliminary forms of taxation such as the Stamp Act and comprised of prominent patriots, joined the course of opposing the Tea Act. Colonial merchants and tradespeople integrated efforts with the Sons of Liberty to form the Boston Tea Party to oppose the Tea Act and British colonial control.
The Boston Tea Party started by dissenting against the wharf arrival of ships ferrying tea from China by defying to pay taxes on the tea or the unloading and storing of the arrived tea. Led by Samuel Adams and managed by John Hancock, the Boston Tea Party convened the First Continental Congress that petitioned the British government to rescind the tea tax (National Constitution Centre 2). The British monarch responded by escalating a series of unpopular and more stringent policies imposed on American colonies. For instance, the British government shut down the Boston Harbor until the damages caused by the British East India Company during the revolts were compensated. Intolerable Acts ensuring the resistance activities by the Boston Tea Party triggered a revolution.
The aftermath of the Boston Tea Party
Founded on the two confronting issues of the financial challenges of the Tea Act and the ongoing dispute over the extent of British parliamentary authority and control in colonial America, the Boston Tea Party kindled the American Revolution. The retaliation by the British government through punitive policies popularly labeled as the Intolerable Acts bred more hostility in the Massachusetts colony (Whiting and Kjelle 9). A conference held in Suffolk, Massachusetts, adopted various resolutions against the Intolerable Acts. Additionally, twelve out of the thirteen North American colonies sent designates to the Continental Congress. They endorsed the “Suffolk Resolves” while restricting the capacity of the British Monarch to directly tax colonies (History 1). by then governor of Massachusetts, General Gage, was compelled to repeal the Intolerable Acts.
Efforts by Gage to capture the prime leaders of the Boston Tea Party led to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, marking the beginning of the American Revolution. On April 1775, upon learning a large cache of war arsenal was concealed in Massachusetts and Samuel Adams and John Hancock were in exile at Lexington, Governor Gage organized troops of a British militia to slip out and strike Concord and Lexington. On April 19, 1775, expecting to find and arrest Hancock and Adams, the British troops were ambushed by the Concord and Lexington militia, and the heavy resistance forced them to retreat (History 1). The British troops endured more loss of lives and injuries compared to the American colonists. The outcomes of the battles persuaded many Americans to take up arms in the cause of fighting for independence. The colonists’ victory in the Battles of Lexington and Concord encouraged similar battles, the American Revolution and Independence.
Outraged by the tea tax, colonist merchants formed the Boston Tea Party, which had a significant effect of sparking Intolerable Acts hence the American Revolution. The First Continental Congress was elemental to the mushroom revolutionary and protests in the other colonial states. Arguably, American Revolution was incubated in Massachusetts by the activities of the Boston Tea Party catalyzed the retaliatory Intolerable Acts imposed by the British Monarch.
Works Cited
History. “Battles of Lexington and Concord.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2020.
National Constitution Center. “On This Day, the Boston Tea Party Lights a Fuse.” National Constitution Center – Constitutioncenter.org, 2021.
Whiting, Jim, and Marylou Morano Kjelle. “An Overview of the American Revolution.” (2019).