Which event on December 16, 1773 saw protesters dump tea into Boston Harbor?

The Boston Tea Party was the December 16, 1773 protest in which colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor.

The protest was organized by the Sons of Liberty in response to the Tea Act, a law that let the British East India Company sell tea directly in the colonies. Protesters objected to taxation without colonial representation, even though the law made some tea cheaper.

Members of the group boarded three ships—the Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver—and destroyed 340 or 342 chests of tea. The participants were often described as disguised as Native Americans, although eyewitness details vary.

Britain responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. The punishment intensified resistance and helped lead to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Boston Tea Party is therefore remembered as a major escalation before the American Revolutionary War.