Boston Tea Party

in American history, the violent destruction of three cargoes of tea in Boston Harbor December 16, 1773. The entire history of the Boston Tea Party is a long one. The East India Tea Company, a London corporation, desired to supply the American colonies with tea. According to British law this company had the sole right to do so, but, owing to an English tax varying from six to twelve cents a pound, the Americans were able to buy smuggled tea from Dutch shippers at a lower price. In 1773 there were 17,000,000 pounds of unsold tea in the London warehouses of the East India Company. There was danger of failure, financial panic, and political disaster. To avoid a financial disaster the British government came to the help of the straitened tea company with a drawback, an agreement to refund a sum that would enable the British tea owner to undersell the Dutch despite the American duty. This was not satisfactory to the colonists. The point of contention was not the cost of tea, but the principle of requiring the payment of any duty at all to the mother country. England, and the colonists held, should not be permitted to collect money from merchants in American ports. Cargoes of tea were sent promptly to American ports. Ships reaching New York and Philadelphia were sent back with their tea unloaded. At Charleston the tea was held until it spoiled in the chests. Four tea ships appeared in Boston Harbor. The British government insisted that they be permitted to land the tea. The American patriots, as they called themselves, were equally determined that no merchant should receive the tea. British men-of-war guarded the mouth of the harbor to prevent the departure of the merchant ships.

On the evening of December sixteenth, so the account runs, an audience of 7,000 people gathered in and around the Old South Meeting House to listen to Sam Adams and other determined speakers. Finally Samuel Adams, according to a preconcerted arrangement, closed his remarks with the appointed signal, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country." Forty white men, disguised in the garb of Mohawk Indians, had made ready in an old printing office near by. On receiving the word, they at once raised a war whoop and rushed for the wharf, followed by several hundred citizens. They boarded three ships, chopped open the tea chests with hatchets, and threw the tea into the harbor. Three cargoes, in all 342 chests, containing about $90,000 worth of tea, were destroyed. The tea floated up and down the harbor until it sank or blew ashore. The fourth ship with its cargo was wrecked near Cape Cod. The attempt to land tea was accordingly frustrated.

An eyewitness, whose account has been preserved in the Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, says gravely: "They say the actors were Indians from Narragansett. Whether they were or not, to a transient observer they appeared as such being cloath'd in blankets with the heads muffled, and copper-colored countenances."

The famous Boston Tea Party was orderly, even though it was a boisterous, energetic affair. It may be termed rebellious, or revolutionary, but it was not a riot. There was no savor of mob-rule. The "Mohawks" represented the deliberate purpose of the colonists.

Samuel Adams rose and exclaimed, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country!" In an instant there was a shout on the porch; there was a war-whoop in response, and forty or fifty of the men disguised as Indians rushed out of the doors, down Milk Street towards Griffin's (afterward Liverpool) Wharf, where the vessel lay. The meeting was declared dissolved, and the throng followed their leaders, forming a determined guard around the wharf. The "Mohawks" entered the vessel; there was tugging at the ropes; there was breaking of light boxes; there was pouring of precious tea in the waters of the harbor. For two or three hours the work went on, and three hundred and forty-two chests were emptied. Then, under the light of the moon, the Indians marched to the sound of fife and drum to their homes, and the vast throng melted away, until not a man remained to tell of the deed. The committee of correspondence held a meeting next day, and Samuel Adams and four others were appointed to prepare an account of the affair to be posted to other places. Paul Revere who is said to have been one of the "Mohawks," was sent express to Philadelphia with the news, which was received at that place on the twenty-sixth. It was announced by ringing of bells, and there was every sign of joy . . . . . The continent was universally stirred at last.-A.Gilman, The Story of Boston.