On what date was the Boston Tea Party held, a key protest before America’s independence?

The Boston Tea Party was held on December 16, 1773, a key protest before America’s independence.

Members of the Sons of Liberty and other protesters boarded ships in Boston Harbor and threw tea belonging to the East India Company into the water. They opposed Parliament’s Tea Act and the broader principle of taxation without representation.

The protest followed weeks of tension over whether the tea ships could leave without unloading their cargo and paying the required duty. Contemporary accounts differ over the precise number of tea chests destroyed, so the date is a more secure trivia fact than the quantity.

Britain responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. These measures intensified resistance and helped create the conditions that led to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775.