On what date did the Boston Tea Party take place, when protesters dumped tea into Boston Harbor?

The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773, when protesters dumped tea into Boston Harbor.

The protest targeted the Tea Act, a law that gave the British East India Company advantages in selling tea in the American colonies. Many colonists objected to taxation imposed without elected colonial representation, even though the act lowered the company’s price and retained a tax on tea.

That night, members and supporters of the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships: Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver. They threw 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The participants tried to avoid damaging other cargo and did not steal the tea, making the action a highly visible act of political protest.

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 confrontation intensified colonial cooperation and helped lead to the First Continental Congress in 1774, although the Revolution did not begin immediately afterward.