The Boston Tea Party

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The Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was no party at all. It was the beginning of the American Revolution.

Boston was a very important port in America in the 1700s. At that time America was still a colony of Britain. At about the same time, exactly in 1730, the British government demanded more taxes from the Americans who of course were not happy about that. So things were difficult between Britain and the USA at that time. And the Boston Massacre of 1700, in which British soldiers who were stationed in Boston, had killed five American men, had even made it worse.

In 1773 three ships that had tea on them were in Boston harbour. The tea was meant for a big British company and was about to be delivered. That was exactly in the night of December 16th, 1773.

Some American men, who called themselves „Sons of Liberty“ decided to go on board of these ships. They went there in three groups, 50 men in each one, dressed up as native Indians. They took boxes of tea and threw them into  the sea, while the people of Boston were watching them and cheered and waved. Actually 350 big  boxes of tea went into the sea. So the British company lost a lot of money.

The Americans said that they would not pay for the tea, so the British government was really angry.

This was actually the first time that the Americans protested against the British government and rules and therefore the Boston Tea Party is considered to be the beginning of the American revolution.