What 1773 protest in Boston helped set the stage for the independence celebrated by America250?

The Boston Tea Party was the 1773 protest that helped set the stage for the independence celebrated by America250.

On December 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded ships in Boston Harbor and dumped East India Company tea into the water. They opposed Parliament's tea policies and the broader principle of taxation without colonial representation.

The protest was not an independence declaration, but it sharply escalated the conflict between Britain and the colonies. Parliament responded with the punitive laws called the Intolerable Acts, including measures that restricted Massachusetts self-government and closed Boston's port.

The Boston Tea Party is sometimes mixed up with the Boston Massacre of 1770, which involved a deadly confrontation between soldiers and townspeople. The two events were separate and occurred three years apart.