dec 16, 1773 - Boston Tea Party

Description:

This was a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, MA, on Dec. 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of 1773, which allowed the British East India company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. American Patriots strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, boarded the ships and threw an entire shipment of tea into the Boston Harbor.
The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution.

Dec. 16, 1773