On what date did the Boston Tea Party take place during the buildup to America's Revolution?

The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773, in Boston Harbor. Colonists protesting British taxation boarded ships and threw East India Company tea into the water.

The protest followed Parliament’s Tea Act of 1773. Although the act lowered the price of company tea, many colonists opposed the related tax and the principle that Parliament could tax them without colonial representation. The Sons of Liberty organized the action, and some participants disguised themselves as Indigenous people.

The destruction of the tea had major consequences. Britain answered with the punitive laws that colonists called the Intolerable Acts, including measures targeting Massachusetts and Boston. These laws helped persuade several colonies to coordinate their resistance through the First Continental Congress.

A common mix-up is confusing the Tea Party with the Revolutionary War’s opening battles. The protest happened before fighting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, but it was an important escalation in the crisis that led to war.