Boston Tea Party of 1773

an episode in the history of the struggle for independence by England’s North American colonies.

The decision by the British government in 1773 to grant the East India Company the right to import tea to the North American colonies tax-free was intended to undermine the economy of the colonies. It provoked the indignation of the colonists, especially the merchants who dealt in contraband tea. In December 1773 a group of members of the Sons of Liberty secretly boarded British ships standing in Boston harbor and threw a large quantity of tea into the sea. The subsequent closing of Boston harbor, ban on meetings of the townspeople, and quartering of British soldiers in the city further sharpened the conflict between the mother country and the colonies.