Which event began when colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor in December 1773?

The Boston Tea Party began when colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773.

The protest opposed the Tea Act, a law that allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly in the American colonies under favorable conditions. Colonists objected to the act’s implications for taxation and representation, even though it made some tea cheaper.

That night, men associated with the Sons of Liberty boarded tea ships and threw 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The protest was deliberately aimed at destroying the cargo while avoiding personal violence and damage to the ships.

Britain responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. These measures restricted Massachusetts self-government and helped drive colonial resistance toward the First Continental Congress and, eventually, the Revolutionary War.