Parliament did not, however, renounce its right to tax the colonies or otherwise enact legislation over them. "After the Patriot movement waned in the early 1770s, why did the Tea Act reignite colonial resistance?" How did Parliament react to the colonists? The smugglers meanwhile were still smarting from the loss of their illicit income. colonists were angry because they saw these acts as unjust. The Company was granted a license by the North administration to ship tea to major American ports, including Charleston, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston. Latest answer posted January 15, 2021 at 11:09:50 AM. Consignees who were to receive the tea and arrange for its local resale were generally favorites of the local governor (who was royally appointed in South Carolina, New York, and Massachusetts, and appointed by the proprietors in Pennsylvania). The commission's proposals were rejected. When the news reached other colonies, similar protests were staged to amplify the American resentment against their rulers. Latest answer posted December 20, 2016 at 1:47:16 PM. Understandably, colonists did not approve of the Coercive Acts. The tax was not large, it helped pay for expenses the British incurred running the American colonies, and Boston, the center of agitation against the act, was one of the richest areas per capita in the world. In Charleston the cargo was left to rot on the docks. The straw that broke the camels back was, in essence, the catalyst that brought the colonies together, and it served as the final unifying factor in the revolution. On May 10, 1773, the British Parliament passes the Tea Act, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company from bankruptcy by greatly lowering the tea tax it paid to the British government and, thus, granting it a de facto monopoly on the American tea trade. Latest answer posted August 03, 2011 at 2:13:13 AM. They believed that the Indian Reserve was a rightful gain from the French and Indian War and the colonists had the right to expand their settlements in the Ohio Country. Chinese tea is what the Sons of Liberty served in Boston Harbor. The Americans continued to want to manage themselves and resisted, in principle, any precedent that would allow the British more control over them, especially the right to impose more taxes. An act to allow a drawback of the duties of customs on the exportation of tea to any of His Majesty's colonies or plantations in America; to increase the deposit on bohea tea to be sold at the India Company's sales; and to impower the commissioners of the treasury to grant licenses to the East India Company to export tea. Townshend Acts | Summary, Significance, & Facts | Britannica Why did taxes imposed by Britain anger the colonists? Tea Act, (1773), in British American colonial history, legislative maneuver by the British ministry of Lord North to make English tea marketable in America. The colonists were under the impression that the British government was offering cheaper tea produced by the East India Company as a bribe to the Americans in the hopes that they would abandon their fundamental resistance to the tea tax. The Sugar Act caused an outcry among the colonists and they protested by boycotting British goods. Only colonists were willing to pay internal taxes passed by their assemblies or Parliament. The colonists were opposed to the Tea Act for a number of reasons, including the fact that they felt Parliament lacked the authority to levy a tax on tea and the fact that they did not wish to be compelled to purchase tea from a single vendor.What really happened during the Boston Tea Party?On the 16th of December in 1773, three ships bringing t. Draw up petition to king that protests Stamp Act 3. On December 16, 1783, a tea party was held in Boston. The markups imposed by these merchants, combined with the tea tax imposed by the Townshend Acts of 1767 created a profitable opportunity for American merchants to import and distribute tea purchased from the Dutch in transactions and shipments that violated the Navigation Acts and were treated by British authorities as smuggling. It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. The Tea Act, which was approved by Parliament on May 10, 1773, would prove to be the deciding factor in the development of revolutionary sentiment in Boston. These actions further raised tensions that led to the eruption of the American War of Independence in April 1775. In an effort to help the financially troubled British East India Company sell 17,000,000 pounds of tea stored in England, the Tea Act rearranged excise regulations so that the company could pay the Townshend duty and still undersell its competitors. This act was aimed at raising revenue to pay for the British officers that were stationed in the colonies. American Revolution, also called United States War of Independence or American Revolutionary War, (1775-83), insurrection by which 13 of Great Britain's North American colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America. The British responded by passing the Tea Act, which gave the East India Company a monopoly on tea. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan, Matt Mullen and Christian Zapata. Battles between British and local militia fighters in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, were the first shots of the Revolutionary War. Patriot mobs intimidated the companys agents into resigning their commissions. In Boston, this resistance culminated in the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, when colonists (some disguised as Native Americans, since they identified themselves as "Americans" and no longer considered themselves British subjects)[citation needed] boarded tea ships anchored in the harbour and dumped their tea cargo overboard. 12 Ounces Of Powdered Sugar Equals How Many Cups? This event became known as the Boston Tea Party. Several similar actions have taken place in Edenton, North Carolina, and Yorktown, Virginia, in addition to the Tea Party in Boston. Parliament responded with the Coercive Acts of 1774, which colonists came to call the Intolerable Acts. The men smashed open the chests of tea and dumped their contents into Boston Harbor in what later came to be known as the Boston Tea Party. Latest answer posted January 15, 2021 at 11:09:50 AM. The cumulative effect of the reports of colonial resistance to British . Rather, the act was a straightforward order of economic protectionism for a British tea firm, the East India Company, that was on the verge of bankruptcy. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Opposition developed to the arriving tea shipments in Boston and other colonial ports. The British tea dumped in Boston Harbor on the night of December 16 was valued at some $18,000. In Charleston, the colonists left the tea on the docks to rot. It helped cause the American Revolution (1775-1783). The Stamp Act intensified colonial hostility toward the British and . By 1773 the Company was close to collapse due in part to contractual payments to the British government of 400,000 per year, together with war and a severe famine in Bengal which drastically reduced the Company's revenue from India, and economic weakness in European markets. So the Tea Act, while not imposing new taxes on the colonists, was in many ways more provocative than previous legislation, and the Boston Tea Party famously held in response proved to be a major flashpoint in the imperial crisis. It further restricted the fur trade with Native Americans unless conducted through British offices. The colonists were upset because they felt that this was a way for the British government to tax them without their consent. In Charleston, the colonists left the tea on the docks to rot. Governor Hutchinson in Boston was determined to leave the ships in port, even though vigilant colonists refused to allow the tea to be landed. After Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to send back the cargo, Patriot leader Samuel Adams organized the so-called Boston Tea Party with about 60 members of the radically anti-British Sons of Liberty. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. . What are some reasons that the Boston Tea Party was justified? Tea was subject to the levy. Latest answer posted May 02, 2022 at 4:40:57 AM. The act granted the company the right to ship its tea directly to the colonies without first landing it in England, and to commission agents who would have the sole right to sell tea in the colonies. What are the advantages and disadvantages of freedom? The History of Us is a registered trademark, View other events that happened on May 10. On December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place at Griffins Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. Since the Stamp Act crisis of 1765, radical colonists had warned that new British taxes heralded an attempt to overthrow representative government in the colonies and to subjugate the colonists to British tyranny. The Boston Tea Party - HISTORY The proclamation had sown the seeds of distrust and enmity between the colonists and their new rulers. They ignored the proclamation and continued to expand westward. When the British Prime Minister, Lord North, proposed the Tea Act in May 1773, he was not even thinking of the North American colonies, but rather of the East India Company, which had assumed control over India.In exchange for the power to appoint its governors, North loaned the company 1.5 millionthe equivalent of about $270 million today. The shipment of British East India Company tea was spared from destruction because of the care taken to avoid personal property destruction. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Why was the tea act beneficial to the colonists according to Prime Minister North? The Tea Act 1773 (13 Geo 3 c 44) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The Tea Act, however, angered influential merchants who feared the monopoly would affect them directly. True, the tax was a very small one and tea would have remained cheap. First, it was seen as a sort of stalking horse for future regulations on American trade, which, while not. Although it was a private concern, the company played an integral role in Britains imperial economy and served as its conduit to the riches of the East Indies. The East India Company was allowed to simply sell directly to retailers. Many of these merchants were very powerful in American port cities, and so they were politically positioned to organize protests. However, this very calculated risk soon backfired in the form of massive protests in several colonies against the Tea Act. Following the Britishs decision, they changed their policies. The legislation did not meant to raise money in the American colonies, and as a result, it did not impose any additional taxes on the people living there. On December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place, which took place in Boston Harbor. It was a political protest held at Griffins Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773, which resulted in the creation of the Boston Tea Party. Moreover, Townshends proposal to use the revenue to pay the salaries of colonial governors aroused great suspicion among the colonists. Although many colonists continued to refuse to drink tea out of principle, many others resumed partaking of the beverage, though some of them salved their conscience by drinking smuggled Dutch tea, which was generally cheaper than legally imported tea.The American consumption of smuggled tea hurt the finances of the East India Company, which was already struggling through economic hardship. The patriots wanted to break away from Britain and form their own republic. From the roots of the rebellion to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, explore this pivotal era in American history through sweeping cinematic recreations. The fact that the agents commissioned by the company to sell its tea included a number of pro-Parliament men only added fuel to the fire.The Tea Act revived the boycott on tea and inspired direct resistance not seen since the Stamp Act crisis. As a result of the Tea Party, the Revolutionary War was declared in Boston, with a group of patriots led by Samuel Adams leading the charge. Corrections? Learn how and when to remove this template message, his Majesty's colonies or plantations or farms in America, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tea_Act&oldid=1154174228, Repealed Great Britain Acts of Parliament, Articles needing additional references from September 2018, All articles needing additional references, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, An act to allow a drawback of the duties of customs on the exportation of tea or oil to any of. This page was last edited on 10 May 2023, at 18:45. During the Boston Tea Party, tea was thrown to the ground in what has been referred to as a Bohea type of incident. They perceived it as unnecessary interference of the British government in the affairs of the colonists. Taxation of tea was increased without prior approval from the British government. The leaders of our country have decided to protest the actions of our government. When the colonists refused to comply with the acts, the British dissolved the New York assembly in 1767 to punish them. Aside from the tea tax that had been in effect since 1766, the American colonists were especially enraged by the British East India Companys government-sanctioned monopoly on tea. Why did the Tea Act of 1773 anger colonists? Why Did The Tea Act Of 1773 Anger Colonists? Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. leaders in many colonies planned to prevent the East India Company from landing tea shipments. Why Were The Colonists Upset About The Tea Act by Laura Phillips | Oct 16, 2022 | Stomach & Belly In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which lowered the price of tea imported to the colonies by the British East India Company and gave the company a monopoly on the tea trade. Why did the Tea Act of 1773 anger many American colonists? Tea was seen as a need for daily life.The colonists had already staged two separate boycotts of British products in order to voice their opposition to the levies that Parliament had imposed with the intention of increasing income. The act eliminated the customs duty on the companys tea, allowing for direct US export. Tea Act - Definition, Timeline & Facts | HISTORY The protesters, disguised as Native Americans, raided three ships in the harbor and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water. On December 16, 1773, a group of patriots posing as Mohawk Indians destroyed 342 tea chests belonging to the East India Company. Ships laden with more than 500,000 pounds of tea set off for the colonies in September 1773. The business of colonial merchants was hurt as a result of the direct selling of tea to the American colonies by agents of the British East India Company. In most colonies, the elective assemblies paid the governors salaries, and losing that power of the purse would greatly enhance the power of the royally appointed governors at the expense of representative government. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. This did not satisfy the colonists as they saw a number of other actions of the British as harmful to their sovereignty. Intolerable Acts | 1774, Definition, Summary, Significance, & Facts It is ironic that Boston was less strict in its prohibition of British goods than other colonies, which resulted in an even more hostile British reaction. The act also made allies of merchants and patriot groups like the Sons of Liberty. Before the Boston Tea Party occurred, the colonies did not agree with the decision to impose the Tea Act. Colonial leaders like Patrick Henry call for resistance to tax The Colonies Protest the Stamp Act 1. Tory was a term used by the Puritans to describe those who remained loyal to Britain. The total debt incurred was about 122 million pounds at the yearly interest of 4.4 million pounds. The colonists organized protests against the laws and deeply resented the British tactics against the American colonies. The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774 - George Washington's Mount Vernon The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts.The Sons of Liberty strongly opposed the . The colonists demonstrated to the British that they could fight back. colonists were angered by the Act because they saw it as a way for the British to tax them more. Colonists in the colonies dumped 342 chests of tea imported by the British East India Company into the harbor in protest of Britains taxation without representation. Since Parliament had a long history of using duties to regulate imperial trade, Townshend expected that the colonists would acquiesce to the imposition of the new taxes. The Colonies Move Toward Open Rebellion, 1773-1774 These agreements were never carried out because Boston merchants failed to honor their end of the bargain. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Members of the patriot secret society the Sons of Liberty, dressed as American Indians, boarded ships of the East India Company in Boston Harbor, removed its cargo of tea, and tossed it into the. [2] Tea destined for the North American colonies would be purchased by merchants specializing in that trade, who transported it to North America for eventual retail sale. This was what ultimately compelled a group of Sons of Liberty members on the night of December 16, 1773 to disguise themselves as Mohawk Indians, board . The colonists decided to fight back after losing. Why did the Tea Act of 1773 anger colonists? - Homework.Study.com The Tea Act granted the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies. They threw away several chests of British tea into the water as a form of protest against the act. The colonists subsequently called the first Continental Congress to consider a united American resistance to what they saw as British oppression. It granted the British East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea into the American colonies. Easily the biggest surprise about the Boston Tea Party is that the uprising wasn't a protest against a new tax hike on tea. The Tea Act of 1773, which established a new form of taxation in the United States, is widely regarded as one of the most significant events in American history. When three tea ships carrying East India Company tea, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor, the colonists demanded that the tea be returned to England. In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which lowered the price of tea imported to the colonies by the British East India Company and gave the company a monopoly on the tea trade. In these ways, the Tea Act reignited colonial resistance. The Tea Act, one of several measures taken by the British during the American colonies, was enacted in 1773. 7 Surprising Facts About the Boston Tea Party | HISTORY The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. The Sons of Liberty later destroyed a portion of the tea that had been salvaged in Boston. In 1773, a group of colonists in Boston staged a protest against the Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into the harbor. The administration of Lord North saw an opportunity to achieve several goals with a single bill. Before the Act, smugglers imported 900,000 pounds of cheap foreign tea a year. Although the victory greatly expanded the empires imperial holdings, it also left it with a massive national debt, and the British government looked to its North American colonies as an untapped source of revenue. Sixty men hidden in plain sight threw 30 cups of tea overboard from the Fortune in 1774. The Tea Act of 1773 ruffled feathers among colonists because it undermined American business. After the Tea Party protests in Boston, the British imposed even stricter restrictions on the Massachusetts colony. Protest leaders and their followers still avoided . During the Boston Tea Party, three ships carrying cargo for British East India Company tea arrived in Boston Harbor from London, where they were moored on the night of the event. As a result, the Boston Tea Party played a significant role in escalating the conflicts that resulted in the American Revolution. During the American Revolution, colonists held a Tea Party in defiance of the British. In 1772 and 1773, the British East India Company signed non-importation agreements with the United States to prevent the import of tea. The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. On April 27, 1773, the British Parliament passes the Tea Act, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company from bankruptcy by greatly lowering the tea tax it paid to the British government and, thus, granting it a de facto monopoly on the American tea trade. Though the protests were effective they did not deter the British from introducing other acts. King George III, in his speech, accused the colonists of hurting the British Commerce and disregarding the constitution. It is possible that New York and Philadelphia played a role in the Boston Tea Party because they wanted the tea to be kept out of the city. The colonists objected to it by questioning the need for a standing army in the 13 colonies and also accusing the government of taxing them indirectly by forcing them to bear the daily expenses of the British soldiers. Colonists weren't protesting a higher tax on tea. Plus the presence of troops to control the smuggling reminded the colonists of their subservience to the English Crown. The American colonists, however, did not share this view of the proclamation including George Washington. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). During the American Revolution, 30-130 men dressed as Native Americans boarded three British tea ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor. Americans could easily afford the tax. the colonists were furious at what they saw as a further abuse of power, and new protests swept the colonies. In Boston, many clashes broke out between the troops and colonists. However, it was another example of Parliament imposing a tax on colonists and they resented that. Many colonists who had established a lucrative fur trade with the Native Americans were upset with the provisions of the proclamation. In 1770 most of the Townshend taxes were repealed, but taxes on tea were retained. Many American colonists had begun to use potential weapons like newspapers to communicate their complaints. The Act of 1773 granted the British East India Company a monopoly on the production of British Tea, allowing it to exercise complete control over the distribution of tea across the colonies.In spite of the fact that the price of tea was dropped, the colonists were upset since they were required to purchase only tea that was sold by the British East India Company and could no longer purchase any tea that they want. However, the Townshend duties were applied to the purchase of the tea in an attempt to implicitly make Americans pay taxes to the Empire. At the same time, the North administration hoped to reassert Parliaments right to levy direct revenue taxes on the Colonies. Benjamin Franklin was one of several people who suggested things would be greatly improved if the Company was allowed to export its tea directly to the colonies without paying the taxes it was paying in London: "to export such tea to any of the British colonies or plantations in America, or to foreign parts, import duty of three pence a pound."[2]. The Boston Tea Company sent a group of Native Americans aboard its ships on December 16, 1773. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Edenton Tea Party - Women & the American Story The Tea Act | World History Project The parliament had to repeal the act as a result of the massive resistance put up by the colonists called the Stamp Act Crisis. The Coercive Acts convinced more moderate Americans that the radicals claims had merit. As a direct consequence of the Boston Tea Party, the Coercive Acts are passed by the British Parliament. In the 1760s and earlier the East India Company had been required to sell its tea exclusively in London on which it paid a duty which averaged two shillings and six pence per pound. Whether they were legal documents, magazines, newspapers, and even playing cards, they had to be printed on the paper bearing the embossed revenue stamp.
