Boston Tea Party

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Boston Tea Party, 1773. This marked a distinct stage on the road from resistance to insurrection in North America. The unpopular tea duty was continued after the repeal of the other Townshend duties. In 1773 the East India Company was allowed to export dutied tea directly to America. The patriotic leadership in Boston failed to gain undertakings that tea would not be landed. A group of men disguised as ‘Mohawks or Indians’ ‘emptied every chest of tea’ on board three ships into Boston harbour on 16 December 1773. This unchecked attack on British property provoked the ‘Intolerable Acts’ of 1774.

Richard C. Simmons

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