For America250, what was the date of the Boston Tea Party?

For America250, the Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773.

That night, members of the Sons of Liberty and other protesters boarded ships in Boston Harbor and destroyed tea belonging to the British East India Company. They were opposing the Tea Act, which allowed the company to sell tea in the colonies under favorable conditions while retaining a tax that many colonists viewed as unconstitutional.

The protest was part of a wider dispute over taxation and political representation. Colonists objected to Parliament imposing measures on communities that had no elected representatives in Parliament. The slogan “no taxation without representation” expressed the central grievance, although the protest also involved competition, trade, and imperial authority.

Britain responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. These measures restricted Massachusetts self-government and closed Boston Harbor until the destroyed tea was paid for. The backlash helped bring colonial resistance together and contributed to the outbreak of war in 1775.