Why is the Boston Tea Party famous?

Though it sounds like a fancy tea party, the Boston Tea Party was in fact an act of protest. It happened on 16 December, 1773; a group of men dressed like Mohawk Indians boarded ships in Boston Harbour and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water. It was a spectacle; the harbour remained brown for several days.

Are you wondering why all of this happened? The British East India Company faced serious financial troubles around that time and selling tea was the only way to avoid bankruptcy. To make things better, the Parliament passed the Tea Act, which gave the Company the right to sell tea directly in the American colonies. The tea was to be carried only in the Company ships and sold only through its own agents. This would bypass the independent colonial merchants and shatter their business. The Boston Tea Party was the colonists’ way of talking back.

It was the first major act of resistance by the colonists against the British government. The event made it clear that the Americans would no longer bear the tyranny of taxation. It was also the beginning of the American colonies coming together to fight the British.

Picture Credit : Google

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