Boston Tea Party, Essay Example

The beginning of the American Revolution began in Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773 (Carp 3). Actually, the inciting incident didn’t happen in Griffin’s Wharf, but rather occurred some time before that in an English parliamentary house meeting about the taxation of tea, or The Tea Act, on the new colonies on May 10, 1773 (Allison vii). The people of the colonies reacted by revolting because they did not believe that a tax should be imposed upon them in a house wherein they were not represented. The acts of aggression that followed were merely reactions to a government that tried to impose an unrepresented tax on a colony of people. The following expository essay will examine the events that lead up to December 16, 1773 and the dumping of tea into the Boston Harbor and go into quick details on the succeeding events.

England imposed The Tea Act on the colonies in order to maintain commerce, taxation, and a form of control on a populace of people that was already quickly expanding. Part of the incentive that lead to The Tea Act was the large debt that England had from the French and Indian Wars—a debt that grossed in at around 158 million pounds (Fradin 11). This lead to the first tax on the colonies known as the Stamp Act which required colonist to purchase specialized stamps for documents such as “wills, newspapers, marriage licenses, and diplomas” (11). Incensed by the audacity of the English government trying to say that the colonist should help pay off the debt for a war that England incited and the colonist supported with their lives and their family’s lives, the colonist began rebelling by passing out leaflets around New York City about revolting against taxation without representation (Allison vii).

One of the stronger opponents of taxation without representation was Boston native, James Otis, who led the beginning of the protests in Boston (Fradin 12). After the protests, Samuel Adams, organized a group known as the “Sons of Liberty” (12): a group of around 300 hundred men who opposed the new act. Adams wrote outraged letters to several newspapers, and often answered his own letters so that it seemed that taxation without representation was a hot button topic. For Adams’ efforts in the Boston Tea Party, and the role it played in the American Revolution, he is known as “the Father of American Independence” (13). Adams also devised the Committee of Correspondence (Allison 6) which carried letters and information from various towns to and from Boston so that Adams could be in direct communication with any of these towns at all times, this way “like-minded men in each colony [kept] in touch with one another” (6). On November 3, 1773 the Sons of Liberty demanded the resignation of tea consigners but the tea consigners refuse (Allison vii). One such consignee was Richard Clarke whose home was later attacked by a mob in Boston (vii). Richard Clarke and other consignees ask for the mayor’s protection during this time but are rebuffed in the form of stalling.  The Sons of Liberty call for action from the populace by requesting that people resist drinking or buying East India Tea (vii).

On November 28, 1773 the ship Dartmouth sailed into Boston Harbor. On board of the ship were around 114 barrel chests of tea (viii). The following day a town hall meeting is held in which the tea consigners argue that protection is needed from revolutionary groups such as The Sons of Liberty. There is an overwhelming outcry from merchants and the town hall meeting ended with the appointment of guards onboard Dartmouth in case of any rioting, or other behavior. During this time the Sons of Liberty are gaining popularity as well as their actions. When Governor Hutchinson asked for a meeting to disperse at Old South, they ignored him. Hutchinson’s role in this was unique, as he advocated for trade with England solely because his sons were tea merchants (Allison 6). Thus, when the boycott’s against tea began to falter in Boston, Hutchinson believed this was the beginning of the end, at least he hoped so for the sake of his sons’ wealth. Hutchinson further incensed Bostonians by giving a speech at the Massachusetts’s Assembly session in 1773. The session was host to mostly men from surrounding towns, and since Boston was the hub of the boycott Hutchinson’s speech was not met with sympathetic ears. Hutchinson addressed his crowd by stating that they were not “a miniature version of Parliament, with sovereign legislative power over the province. They could attend to local matters but they had to acknowledge that Parliament was supreme in the British Empire. Otherwise, if the Massachusetts’s Assembly had the sole power to make laws in Massachusetts, then Massachusetts would be independent” (6). As can be expected, the assembly rejected Hutchinson’s stance and his speech only served to create more friction in the colonies, and more upset in regards to the Tea Act.

In the meantime, between meetings and rebellion, more tea is being shipped into the colonies and onboard Eleanor there are 114 chests of tea; London with 257 chests of tea ports in Boston; Beaver with 112 chests (and small pox) (viii). On the eve of The Boston Tea Party there is a massive meeting at Old South in Boston, one of the largest churches in the city. There, Adam Collson leads a congregation of angry colonists to Griffin Wharf where they “stage an act of rebellion” (Carp 4) by dumping “46 tons of tea” (4) into the waters of Boston Harbor; all of the tea on the Eleanor, London, and Beaver.

There were many reasons behind the Boston Tea Party, and why the men acted the way that they did. Although the Boston Tea Party is known as a “bold, defiant act of political mobilization” (Carp 5), the men had other reasons for doing what they did that night. There was a deadline to dumping the tea; apparently the men had to dump all of the tea before the stroke of midnight otherwise the “customs officers would seize the tea and make it available for sale” (5) which would negate all of the planning they had put into the evening. The crew of men had wanted to curtail throwing tea off of the ships but the captains of each ship proved reluctant to turn around and pilot themselves back to England, so the men were without many options and having to face the midnight deadline, they began throwing tea off the sides of ships (5).

Not only was the Tax Act frowned upon in the colonies (Boston especially) because it was taxation without representation, but it went a step beyond that for many colonists. With the Stamp Act already in place, and the Tax Act beginning, many colonists feared that this was just the beginning of taxation for them. They thought more taxes were on the way and were in the dark on when taxation on them would stop. Taxes were used for parliamentary payroll purposes, so taxes were in fact being used by the government, for the government, and were not being put back into the colonies for any type of support such as healthcare, agriculture, building, etc. Thus, “to the Bostonians—and other dissidents throughout the colonies—this was a blatant example of tyranny” (Carp 5-6).  Not only was this a factor for the coming of events on December 16, 1773, but also the tea company preferred by English taxation was the British East India Company. This threatened to put other, lesser-known companies, and colonists’ companies, out of business as the Tax Act arranges this imposition (Carp 6). It was as if Parliament itself were selling colonists their tea. The colonists feared this course of action because it meant that if the British Parliament knew they could get away with such a monopoly on tea, then what was to stop them from doing the same thing on other goods; “Exorbitant prices, mammoth monopolies, and crushing taxes might leave Americans with nothing” (6), at least, that was the driving fear.

Ultimately, however, the Boston Tea Party was the catalyst for the American Revolution. After the tea was dumped into Boston Harbor, Parliament closed the port to the city and “suspended all government in Massachusetts, replacing the government of the charter with government by force of British arms” (Allison 63). This act however didn’t repel any of the colonies from supporting Boston’s act of defiance, and then following suit by full out rebelling against Parliament. This was in large part due to Samuel Adams’ Committee of Correspondence and their role in spreading resistance literature to all of the colonies. Thus, when the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia the most prominent item on the table for discussion was taxation without representation and how far the English Parliament would take the Tax Act and simply make more taxes (63).

The Boston Tea Party was not only an act of rebellion, a foreshadowing of coming events, but it also was a symbolic gesture by Bostonians, “the destruction of the tea was a quintessential rejection of authority that became a cherished American tradition” (Carp 6). It was an interesting act on its own, outside of political actions, because at this time period it was believed that only the upper class, or the elite, had the right to act, or even to act against a government sanction. The destruction of the tea in Boston set a “world standard for future democratic protest” (Carp 6) not only in America but also across the world. Finally, the power elite did not have control over a people, but the people took the power into their own hands, and began a revolt that lead to a war, that lead to a state of independence and democracy. It is an interesting turn of events: “to Americans, the Tea Party became an emblem of their faith that a determined and organized group can accomplish momentous political change, culminating in independence” (6). It was the first of many such civil disobediences that lead to a country independent of its ruler.

In the annuls of history the Boston Tea Party is either seen as the first act of a nation claiming the right to rule itself, or it is seen as the “culmination of a decade’s worth of flawed imperial policy” (6)—but the latter part is a warped view held only by English Parliament during that time. The Boston Tea Party showcased man’s ability to fight for something he believes in—against tyranny—and to stand up for himself, against the power elite and ruling class, and shuffle off restrictions, imprisonment, and most certainly taxation without representation. American character took shape with the Boston Tea Party and became completely formed by the time the Revolutionary War began. The American tradition of fighting for one’s rights, for representation in a government that rules over an individual and the prowess to gather like minded individuals and boycott an unfairness, all are represented in the Boston Tea Party and were needed in order for that inciting incident to take shape and form into the Revolutionary War.

Works Cited

Allison, Robert. The Boston Tea Party. Carlisle, Massachusetts: Commonwealth Editions, 2007. Print.

Carp, Benjamin. Defiance of the Patriots: the Boston Tea Party and the Making of America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010. Print.

Fradin, Dennis. Turning Points in U.S. History: The Boston Tea Party. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2008. Print.