Boston Tea Party — Unknown Truths

Some believe the first “Declaration of Independence” happened at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts on a night in 1773 when a band of renegades dumped tea into the harbor in a spirited act of defiance that began uniting the colonies in revolution – an act that began the revolution and independence against Great Britain. Americans would not tolerate tyranny sitting down. Not so fast. Think of today's ‘fake news.’ We want to share the fascinating true story with you!

Boston’s ‘Sons of Liberty’ were in fact responding to the British Parliament’s passage of the Tea Act of 1773 when they planned the Boston Tea Party. And with a name like the Tea Act, it’s fair to think that the law was all about raising taxes on tea. Although taxes stoked colonist anger, the Tea Act itself did not raise the price of tea in the colonies by one red cent (or shilling, as it were). The confusion is partly timing and partly semantics. 

The Tea Act was onerous in a different way. It was essentially a British government bailout of the British East India Company, which was hemorrhaging money and weighed down with unsold aging tea. The Tea Act allowed the East India Company to unload 544,000 pounds of old tea, commission-free, on the American Colonies, at a bargain price. Cheaper tea might sound good. But  for the ‘Sons of Liberty’ – many of whom were merchants and even tea smugglers – the Tea Act smelled like a plot. They were a group of colonial merchants and tradesmen founded to protest the Stamp Act of 1765 and other forms of taxation, but NOT any tax on tea. 

The group of revolutionists included prominent patriots such as Benedict Arnold, Patrick Henry, and Paul Revere, as well as tea smugglers John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Did you know two of the founding fathers were smugglers? They argued if we accept lower prices for inferior products, the British would eventually place heavier taxes on all goods.

Led by Samuel Adams, they held rallies against the British Parliament and protested the arrival of the “Dartmouth,” a ship carrying tea owned by the British East India Company. By December 16, 1773, the “Dartmouth” had been joined by her sister ships, the “Beaver” and the “Eleanor", all three ships loaded with tea from China – ironically, each of the ships were built in America and owned by Americans.

That morning, thousands of colonists convened around the wharf. A meeting was held where a large group of colonists voted to refuse the unloading of the tea. That very night, the renegades dumped the tea overboard into Boston Harbor. Interestingly, they were surrounded by British armed ships, but they made no attempt to stop the renegades. No one was hurt, and aside from the destruction of the tea and a padlock, no property was damaged. The participants even swept the ships’ decks clean before they left. This event wasn’t even called  the ‘Boston Tea Party’ until it appeared in print more than 50 years later with the word party referring to ‘a group of men’!

While it is believed that the Tea Party itself incited the revolution, many strong opponents of British rule including George Washington were denouncing these acts of lawlessness. The Tea Party itself did not mobilize the Americans en masse, Parliament’s reaction with the  Intolerable Acts did. These punitive measurements were meant to teach the colonists who was boss.

Several sanctions were levied on the Massachusetts Colony and Boston itself, including the closing of Boston Harbor, replacing Boston’s elected leaders with those appointed by the Crown, and forcing the quartering of British troops in private homes. The Acts ended the Massachusetts Constitution and ended free elections of town officials – it moved judicial authority to British judges, basically creating martial law in Massachusetts. The Intolerable Acts also extended freedom of worship to French-Canadian Catholics under British rule, which angered the mostly Protestant colonists.

Taxation without representation was a dangerous precedent in and of itself. But now the Brits had crossed a line. They were messing with the Massachusetts charter – taking away rights the people had previously enjoyed. The discomfort of the Tea Party was nothing compared to their discomfort with the authoritarian reaction by Parliament. In response to the Intolerable Acts, the First Continental Congress met in September of 1774. Revolution was officially in the air. 

Britain hoped the Intolerable Acts would squelch rebellion in New England and keep the remaining colonies from uniting. But the opposite happened. All the colonies viewed the new punitive laws as further evidence of Britain’s tyranny and rallied to Massachusetts’ aid – sending supplies and plotting further resistance. As tensions continued, the American Congress moved toward independence at the Second Continental Congress culminating in the adoption of Thomas Jefferson’s ‘Declaration of Independence’ on July 4, 1776. And the rest is history. 

The world’s first ever Democratic Government, the United States of America, was made the law of the land in 1788, and officially began operations on March 4, 1789. Today 96 of 167 nations are considered democracies – each in varying degrees of freedoms. These global changes all emerged from the events of the 1760s and 1770s in the United States. 

We write about acts of defiance against rulers in ‘Homeland Rescued’, when Adam and Tariana work to prevent war amongst three colonies in Galtland who hold grievances against each other. In the same book, Adam and Tariana lead Novanians in a bloodless revolution against the AI Supreme Being and its Plakerol troops. Our stories are fantasy, meant to entertain while informing our readers of certain realities both from the past and possible in the future. As we write “Inspirations” we do our best to expose ‘fake news’ and rely on facts instead of folklore.