On what date did the Boston Tea Party take place, the 1773 protest against British tea policy?

The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773. The protest occurred in Boston Harbor, where colonists opposed Parliament’s Tea Act and the broader principle of taxation without colonial representation.

That night, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships: Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver. They destroyed the cargo by throwing hundreds of tea chests into the harbor. The protestors generally avoided damaging the ships or taking other goods, making the tea the central target.

The Tea Act had allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonies. Although the act could lower the legal price of tea, many colonists objected to the tax and to Parliament’s claimed authority. The protest was followed by Britain’s punitive Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists.

The Boston Tea Party did not begin the American Revolutionary War by itself. The Battles of Lexington and Concord followed on April 19, 1775, but the tea protest sharply intensified the conflict between Britain and the colonies.