The Tea Acts
May 10, 1773
The Act Summaries
- To reduce the massive surplus of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company
- To help the struggling company of East India to survive
- To undercut the price of illegal tea smuggled into Britain's North American Colonies
- To Convince the colonists to purchase Company tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly agreeing to accept Parliament's right of taxation
Colonist Reaction
- Colonist in the Thirteen colonies recognized the implications of the Act's provisions.
- a coalition of merchants, smugglers, and artisans similar to that which had opposed the Stamp Act of 1765 mobilized opposition to delivery and distribution of tea.
- In many colonies successful efforts were made to prevent the tea from being landed in Boston.
- This resistance culminated in the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773 when colonist ( some disguised as Native Americans) boarded tea ships anchored in the harbor and dumped their tea cargo overboard