Venus Project Foundation

Below you are going to find two slightly different accounts of how and when the American Revolution fuse was ignited and the overthrow of British rule in America began.

Bahram Maskanian

* * * * * * * * *

The American Revolution
Boston Tea Party - December 16, 1773

In 1770, American protests led to Parliament's repeal of the Townsend Acts duties - except for the duty tax on imported tea retained by the British as a matter of principle. The colonists demonstrated their displeasure with the remaining tax by drinking smuggled tea. The effectiveness of American resistance was shown in the precipitous decline in tea sales in the colonies - a drop of 70 percent over three years.

In 1773 Parliament passed the Tea Act, which gave the English East India Company - the first Nation-Less Corporation established by the British, a chance to avert bankruptcy by granting a monopoly on the importation of tea into the colonies. The new regulations allowed the company to sell tea to the colonists at a low price, lower than the price of smuggled tea, even including the required duty. The British reasoned that the Americans would willingly pay the tax if they were able to pay a low price for the tea.

On November 28, 1773 the Dartmouth arrived in Boston harbor with a cargo of Darjeeling tea. Samuel Adams and other progressives were determined that the cargo would not be unloaded and landed in the city of Boston. His mobs roamed the streets in the evenings, threatening violence if challenged by the authorities. Governor Thomas Hutchinson was equally belligerent and vowed not to capitulate in the face of public opposition as had happened in other colonies. Two other ships, the Beaver and the Eleanor, arrived with more consignments from the East India Company. Hutchinson remained firm and stated that the cargoes would be brought ashore and taxed in compliance with the law.

The Tea Act required that the requisite tax be collected within 20 days of a ship's arrival, making December 16, 1773 the deadline. Samuel Adams kept public fervor high by holding public meetings in the Old South Meeting House; crowds as large as 7,000 clogged the surrounding streets. At one of these gatherings, a resolution was adopted that asked the consignees to return the tea, but the tea agents, some of whom relatives of the governor, refused to do so. On December 16, 1773 the owner of the Dartmouth agreed to sail his ship back to England. This opportunity to ease tensions was abruptly ended, however, British officials denied permission for the ship to clear the port and began preparations to seize the vessel for nonpayment of the tax.

That evening the ship owner reported his inability to depart from Boston to the throng at Old South. With that news Samuel Adams gave a signal to the group and loud Indian war whoops broke out. A group of some 50 men, unconvincingly disguised as Mohawk Indians, moved the short distance to Griffin's Wharf where the three ships were moored. The vessels were boarded, the cargo carefully taken from the holds and placed on the decks. The 342 chests were split open and thrown into the Boston harbor. A cheering crowd on the dock shouted its approval for the brewing of this �saltwater tea.�

The �Tea Party� was quickly restaged in other port cities in America and tended to polarize the sides in the widening dispute. Patriots and Loyalists became more ardent about their views.

Parliament and King chafed at the destruction of private property and the deliberate flouting of royal authority. They would soon turn to sterner actions.

* * * * * * * * *

The American Revolution
Boston Tea Party - December 16, 1773

Victory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) agitated the colonists, straining relations with the mother country. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that spurred the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.

The colonies refused to pay the levies required by the Townsend Acts claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by the British Parliament in which they had no representation. In response, Parliament retracted the taxes with the exception of a duty on tea - a demonstration of Parliament's ability and right to tax the colonies. In May of 1773 Parliament concocted a clever plan. They gave the struggling East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to America. Additionally, Parliament reduced the duty the colonies would have to pay for the imported tea. The Americans would now get their tea at a cheaper price than ever before. However, if the colonies paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them. Tea was a staple of colonial life - it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a cup of tea.

The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy. When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston, the tea was consigned to warehouses and allowed to rot. Only Boston permitted three tea-laden ships to dock, igniting furious reaction among the townspeople.

The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate.

The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of between 50 to 100 men unconvincingly disguised as Mohawk Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.

Most colonists applauded the action while the reaction in London was swift and vehement. In March 1774 British Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts, which among other measures closed the Port of Boston.

The fuse that led directly to the explosion of American independence was lit.

* * * * * * * * *

Take Your Tea And Shove It

George Hewes was a member of the band of the so-called "Indians" that boarded the tea ships the evening of December 16, 1773. His recollection of the event was published some years later.

- - It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place of our destination.

When we arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships, which contained the tea at the same time. The name of him who commanded the division to which I was assigned was Leonard Pitt. The names of the other commanders I never knew. We were immediately ordered by the respective commanders to board all the ships at the same time, which we promptly obeyed.

The commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the ship, appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and delivered the articles; but requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or rigging. We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water.

In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time, we were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us.

The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it were floating upon the surface of the water; and to prevent the possibility of any of its being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles so thoroughly drenched it as to render its entire destruction inevitable. - -