Boston Tea Party- This Day In 1773

· by · in American History, Historical Sites, History, War. ·

Two ships in a harbor, one in the distance. On board, men stripped to the waist and wearing feathers in their hair throw crates of tea overboard. A large crowd, mostly men, stands on the dock, waving hats and cheering. A few people wave their hats from windows in a nearby building.

On this day in 1773 the famous Boston Tea Party took place. The Sons of Liberty, a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded three British ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The Sons of Liberty were protesting the British Parliment’s Tea Act of 1773. The colonists viewed this act as another example of taxation tyranny. 90,000 pounds of tea were destroyed.

The Boston Tea Party was a key act in the growth of the idea of revolution in America.