What date did the Boston Tea Party take place, a Revolutionary-era event recalled during America250?

The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773, a Revolutionary-era event recalled during America250.

That night, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded tea ships in Boston Harbor and threw East India Company tea into the water. The protest opposed the Tea Act and the broader principle of taxation without colonial representation. The participants destroyed hundreds of chests of tea rather than allow the cargo to be unloaded under the disputed tax system.

The event was not a formal party but a coordinated political protest. It followed a mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House, where colonists demanded that the tea ships return to Britain without paying the duty. Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to permit that outcome, and the protest followed.

Britain answered with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. Those punitive measures closed Boston Harbor and helped bring the colonies together. The Boston Tea Party therefore became an important step toward the armed conflict that began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775.