Historical Background and Factors Contributing to The Tea Party

The Destruction of the Tea in Boston, also called the Boston Tea Party, happened on December 16, 1773. This was a violent protest and was organized by the Sons of Liberty. The members included Samuel Adams, James Otis, John Hancock, and Paul Revere.

The Boston Tea Party was simply a protest against the British. In the evening of December 16, 1773, The Sons of Liberty disguised themselves at Native Americans and boarded a ship that was importing tea. It took about 6 hours to dump all the tea into the harbor. Ben Franklin stated that the damage they caused had approximately cost them $1.7 million.

In reaction, the British Prime Minister, Lord North, decided that they had to act as quickly as possible. He thought the colonists were getting out of hand. The British government didn’t care what the punishment would be, they just wanted the colonists to settle down.

The British weren’t the only ones who reacted to the protest. Sam Adams also got involved in the chaos. He ended up defending the act, because it was not lawful but “a principled protest and the only remaining option the people had to defend their constitutional rights.”

The Boston Tea Party was a major contribution to the American Revolution. After the protest happened, John Adams and other colonists thought of drinking tea as “unpatriotic.” in 1774, Britain placed the Intolerable Acts, which closed all ports in Boston. Slowly, as the colonists become even more enraged, the idea of a revolution lit up.

In the end, The Boston Tea Party was a major gateway to the American Revolution. The Sons of Liberty led it well. In 1789, almost 15 years later, the constitution was born, and made its way into war.