Social Studies

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 Boston Tea Party

 Author's note: This is my first completed content essay of the year and my main focus is transitions and fluency.

 

 

“The land of the free and the home of the brave”. These are the last words of our very own national anthem. But this sentence wasn't just put in for a rhyme; they tell the true story of the time when our nation needed brave people to get that desired freedom. The Boston Tea Party was the beginning of what would eventually earn us our independence from Great Britain, and define our country forever.

King George lll

Though Great Britain had won, the end of the French and Indian war also had its negative effects. The country now had a huge debt. Great Britain also needed to maintain an army. Luckily for them, they had the perfect place to get the money. Great Britain was the mother country of the newly founded American Colonies, although up until the end of the war, New England had mostly been ignored. They were adapting to life independent from King George lll, the king of Great Britain at the time, and had made their own laws and way of life. But their life was about to change suddenly and severely. First, in 1764, King George passed the sugar act, an act in which colonists would have to pay an import tax on sugar and molasses. Despite protests by colonists, Britain passed another law a year later. The Stamp Act meant that New Englanders now had to pay import duties on newspapers, deeds, mortgages, certificates and more. The American Colonies didn't have any representatives in the British government, so the colonists were angry when they were forced to follow rules and pay taxes to Great Britain. The commonly used protest, "No taxation without representation!” explained their circumstances well. The American colonists were being unfairly taxed by a government that they had no say in. This caused some brave Boston patriots to finally make a stand.

Samuel Adams

Britain still needed money and New England was still inferior to it's mother country. The summer of 1767 brought the newest taxation law- the Townshend Act. Tea was ranked fourth of all the imports from Britain, therefore tax were added to it, higher than ever. Other commonly used goods such as paper, lead, paint, and glass were taxed, too. Colonial people were infuriated. They resumed boycotting the Britain products, and instead either smuggled goods from another country or made their own. The fact that British law stated that no one could be taxed without agreeing to it made colonists angry enough to attack customs officers (tax collectors), because this law was not being enforced. British government had had enough. King George sent in 2 warships and 2 regiments of soldiers to ensure that smuggling stopped and goods were being imported from Britain only. Not only that, but the regiment of soldiers were commanded to patrol the streets of Boston, in case of any rebellion attempts.

Boston Massacre

This made the Bostonians very angry and annoyed. They called the soldiers, redcoats or lobsterbacks, because of their bright red uniforms. What annoyed the patriots more than intruding their city, though, was that the soldiers would get bored and mock and pester the citizens of Boston. The redcoats would sing 'Yankee Doodle' on Sunday mornings to mock the churchgoers. And one day in March, the citizens of Boston had had enough. One tease lead to another and more and more people started joining in. Turning physical, the colonists started chucking ice and snowballs. Shots were fired in confusion. More soldiers joined in. In the end, there were five less people on Boston's side.From then on, that event was recalled as the Boston Massacre.

British Parliament

After the massacre, the British troops were ordered 2 miles away to Castle William (a fort), for fear of more problems if they stayed. After a month had passed, Great Britain's government, parliament, repealed the Townshend Act. All taxes were removed except for the tax on tea, in order to prove that Britain still had the control. The colonists were angry because they knew that giving in to even one tax would mean they didn't have independence from Great Britain. The patriots continued boycotting and smuggling- and it almost worked. British East India Company, a tea company, nearly went bankrupt because none of its tea was being sold. But Parliament stepped in and passed the Tea Act, which, in simplest terms, sold tea to Loyalists at a low price to sell to the colonists who were forced to pay the tax. The colonists begged the merchants to stop, again threatening to tar and feather, but to no avail, the merchants of Boston stayed loyal.

Boston Harbor

On November 28, 1773, the first ship carrying tea, the Dartmouth arrived in Boston Harbor. If the tea was      unloaded, the duties would have to be paid. Over 6000 colonists met at the Old South Meeting House that day to discuss what to do. To make sure the tea wasn't unloaded; they assigned 25 men to guard the ship with muskets until it left. But the Dartmouth was soon joined by the Eleanor and the Beaver. The captains only had twenty days, until midnight on December 16th, to unload the cargo. When the tea was unloaded, the taxes would have to be paid. If not, the tax collectors would take the tea and sell it. The British knew that Boston might try to get the ships to leave, so he had two warships block with loaded guns block off the harbor. The Sons of Liberty came together to discuss this matter. Their determination was that their only option to avoid the taxes was to destroy the tea.

Boston Tea Party

When day broke on December 16, 1773 excitement and anxiety ran high through the people of Boston. The patriots asked one more time that the tea be sent back to Britain, but again, the request was denied. Later that night, more than 100 men dressed up as Mohawk Indians to hide their identity, for what they were about to do would be considered high treason. After some encouraging words to each other, the patriots started quietly down the streets to Boston Harbor. Other civilians followed along to watch this great event. At the harbor, the patriots split up to destroy every tea leave on all of the ships. They pulled up crates of tea leaves and sliced them open to fully expose them to the elements of salt water. There needed to be no salvageable tea left. A mixed crowd watched from the side in silence. There were British soldiers and an admiral in that crowd. They didn't shoot for fear of hurting innocent bystanders. By the time the tea dumping was done, the patriots had destroyed over 300 chests of tea, tea that valued to more than one million dollars. The men left the boats, two by two, axes over their shoulders. One man played 'Yankee Doodle' on his fife. Not a thing besides the tea was damaged (and a small brass lock which was later replaced). But that didn't mean the patriots wouldn’t pay for what they'd done.

Boston Harbor was officially closed after the Tea Party. A few months of celebration passed until several of the first events of the Revolutionary war happened in response. The Boston Tea Party could have very well been the breaking point of the American Revolution. It might have even been one of the most important events in the history of the United States. It gave us confidence to be independent. It inspired patriotism all over the colonies. It eventually earned us our freedom. Had there not been the Sons of Liberty, or even some brave men, we might still be under Great Britain's control. We need brave people like these to stand up for what is right, and live out the American legacy.

Works Cited

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Garrison, Chad. "Missouri's Sales Tax Holiday Begins Today; Don't Pay Tax on Clothes, Computers - St. Louis News - Daily RFT." The Riverfront Times' Blogs. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/08/missouri_sales_tax_holiday_begins_today.php>.

Gonash, Linda. How did Tea and Taxes Spark a Revolution. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2011. Print.

"Important Boston Tea Party Facts and Information." Important Boston Tea Party Facts and Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://bostonteapartyfacts.com/>.

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"The Boston Tea Party, 1773." EyeWitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm>.

"The History Place - American Revolution: Boston Tea Party - Eyewitness Account." The History Place. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/teaparty.htm>.

"The Olive Branch Petition - July 5, 1775." Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, Bill of Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/olive-branch-petition.html>.

everywhere, there were opportunists,  too, in South Carolina a group of sailors, calling themselves The Sons of Liberty, so the Sons spent a great deal of time policing themselves,  ", and "True-born Sons" of Liberty.. "The Sons of Liberty." ushistory.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/sons.htm>.

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