Boston Tea Party

Definition

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. They dumped 342 chests of tea imported by the British East India Company into the harbor as a response to the Tea Act.

Related terms

Tea Act: This was an act passed by British Parliament in 1773 which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to colonists, bypassing colonial merchants and leading to cheaper prices but also monopolizing tea trade.

Sons of Liberty: A secret revolutionary organization founded by Samuel Adams in the Thirteen American Colonies to advance rights of European colonists and fight taxation by British government.

Intolerable Acts: These were punitive laws passed by British Parliament in 1774 after Boston Tea Party meant to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance.