The Boston Tea Party was the 1773 protest in which colonists threw tea into Boston Harbor, an event remembered by America250.
The protest took place on December 16, 1773, in Boston, Massachusetts. Members of the Sons of Liberty boarded tea ships, including the Dartmouth, and destroyed a large shipment of East India Company tea by dumping it into the harbor. The action opposed Parliament’s Tea Act and the broader principle of taxation without colonial representation.
The protest did not immediately begin the Revolutionary War. Instead, Parliament responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. These measures restricted Massachusetts self-government and closed Boston Harbor, further intensifying resistance across the colonies.
Accounts differ slightly over the amount of tea destroyed, commonly reporting 340 or 342 chests. Another frequent misconception is that the protest was a spontaneous gathering; it was organized by resistance groups and followed weeks of public meetings and political pressure.