When did the Boston Tea Party take place?

The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773.

That night, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded tea ships in Boston Harbor and dumped East India Company tea into the water. The protest opposed the Tea Act and Parliament's authority to tax the colonies without colonial representation. Participants disguised themselves in ways intended to conceal their identities, though the event was not simply a protest against the price of tea.

The immediate dispute centered on whether ships could unload tea and pay the required duty. Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to let the vessels leave Boston without complying with customs rules. Thousands gathered at the Old South Meeting House before the destruction of the tea began.

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