What was the name of the colonial protest group that dumped tea into Boston Harbor?

The colonial protest group that dumped tea into Boston Harbor was the Sons of Liberty.

On December 16, 1773, members of the group boarded three East India Company ships and threw 340 or 342 chests of tea into the harbor. They were protesting the Tea Act, which allowed the financially troubled company to sell tea directly in the colonies while retaining a tax that many colonists viewed as unconstitutional.

The protesters were partly disguised as Native Americans, a symbolic way to identify themselves with America rather than Britain. The action was organized after Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to let the tea ships leave without unloading their cargo. The Sons of Liberty included prominent figures such as Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock, although not every participant was publicly identified.

The Boston Tea Party was not simply a protest against the price of tea; the Tea Act actually made legal tea cheaper. The deeper issue was Parliament's authority to tax colonists who had no elected representation. Britain's harsh response, including the Coercive Acts, intensified colonial resistance.