The Boston Tea Party took place in 1773, on December 16, in Boston Harbor.
Members of the Sons of Liberty organized the protest against British taxation and Parliament’s authority over the colonies. Disguised participants boarded East India Company ships and dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor.
The protest followed the Tea Act of 1773. That law actually lowered the price of legally imported tea, but colonists objected because it preserved Parliament’s power to tax them without elected representation. The action prompted Britain to pass the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists.
The Boston Tea Party did not begin the Revolutionary War immediately. The Battles of Lexington and Concord followed on April 19, 1775, nearly two years later. The event is also distinct from later “tea party” political movements that use the same name.