Changes

==History==

==History==

Bostonians and other colonists had been subjected to a tax on [[tea]] as well as [[paint]], [[paper]], and [[glass]] with the passage of the [[Townshend Acts]] in 1767. Protests and non-importation movements by the colonists led the repeal of the Townshend duties in 1770, with the exception of the duty on tea. The British Parliament had retained the tea tax, partly as a symbol of its right to tax the colonies, and partly to aid the financially embarrassed East India Company.<ref>[http://www.reference.com/browse/boston%20tea%20party?qsrc=3086 Boston Tea Party], Reference.com, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008.</ref> In 1773, [[Parliament]] passed the [[Tea Act]] which allowed the struggling [[East India Company]] to sell a half million pounds of tea in the colonies while bypassing the importation taxes normally paid under the [[British Navigation Acts]]. 

Bostonians and other colonists had been subjected to a tax on [[tea]] as well as [[paint]], [[paper]], and [[glass]] with the passage of the [[Townshend Acts]] in 1767. Protests and non-importation movements by the colonists led the repeal of the Townshend duties in 1770, with the exception of the duty on tea. The British Parliament had retained the tea tax, partly as a symbol of its right to tax the colonies, and partly to aid the financially embarrassed East India Company.<ref>[http://www.reference.com/browse/boston%20tea%20party?qsrc=3086 Boston Tea Party], Reference.com, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008.</ref>

For all practical purposes, the 1773 Tea Act gave the East India Tea Company a monopoly by allowing them to charge less than other merchants. Despite the fact they were now paying less for tea, American colonists held [[protest]]s against the act. The colonists tried to prevent the consignees from accepting taxed tea and were successful in [[New York]] and [[Philadelphia]]. Because of this, in South Carolina the tea was landed at [[Charleston]] but was held in [[government]] warehouses.  Prior to the landing of the tea, future Founding Father [[Benjamin Rush]] encouraged fellow colonists to "with one heart and hand oppose the  

In 1773, [[Parliament]] passed the [[Tea Act]] which allowed the struggling [[East India Company]] to sell a half million pounds of tea in the colonies while bypassing the importation taxes normally paid under the [[British Navigation Acts]]. For all practical purposes, the 1773 Tea Act gave the East India Tea Company a monopoly by allowing them to charge less than other merchants.

 

Despite the fact they were now paying less for tea, American colonists held [[protest]]s against the act. The colonists tried to prevent the consignees from accepting taxed tea and were successful in [[New York]] and [[Philadelphia]]. Because of this, in South Carolina the tea was landed at [[Charleston]] but was held in [[government]] warehouses.  Prior to the landing of the tea, future Founding Father [[Benjamin Rush]] encouraged fellow colonists to "with one heart and hand oppose the  

landing of it", because the tea represented something worse than death, "the seeds of Slavery".<ref>Benjamin Rush, ''To His Fellow Countrymen, On Patriotism'', October 20, 1773</ref>

landing of it", because the tea represented something worse than death, "the seeds of Slavery".<ref>Benjamin Rush, ''To His Fellow Countrymen, On Patriotism'', October 20, 1773</ref>

[[image:Boston Tea Party Griffins Wharf.jpg|250px|right|thumb|A Plaque at the Independence Wharf building]]

[[image:Boston Tea Party Griffins Wharf.jpg|250px|right|thumb|A Plaque at the Independence Wharf building]]

At [[Boston]], when the tea ships the ''Beaver'', the ''Dartmouth'', and the ''Eleanor''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WLVLBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT366 Architects of Anglo-American Justice]</ref> arrived they remained unloaded by the authority of [[Massachusetts]] governor [[Thomas Hutchinson]].  The Governor was determined to force the colonists to pay the duties on the tea, and issued orders that no British ship was to leave port without unloading their cargo.

At [[Boston]], meetings grew larger and larger in response to the tea act. Thousands of citizens packed [[Faneuil Hall]], eventually forcing patriot leaders to move their meetings to the larger Old South Meeting House, a Congregational Church in downtown Boston.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/bost/learn/historyculture/fh.htm Faneuil Hall]</ref> When the tea ships the ''Beaver'', the ''Dartmouth'', and the ''Eleanor''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WLVLBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT366 Architects of Anglo-American Justice]</ref> arrived they remained unloaded by the authority of [[Massachusetts]] governor [[Thomas Hutchinson]].  The Governor was determined to force the colonists to pay the duties on the tea, and issued orders that no British ship was to leave port without unloading their cargo.

On the evening of December 16, 1773, [[Paul Revere]] and other members of the [[Sons of Liberty]], thinly-disguised as [[Native Americans]], boarded the three British East India Company ships moored to the piers of ''Griffin's Wharf'' and threw the entire cargo of tea into the harbor.  Boston brewer and patriot [[Samuel Adams]], as well as [[John Hancock]] were present during the events.

On the evening of December 16, 1773, [[Paul Revere]] and other members of the [[Sons of Liberty]], thinly-disguised as [[Native Americans]], boarded the three British East India Company ships moored to the piers of ''Griffin's Wharf'' and threw the entire cargo of tea into the harbor.  Boston brewer and patriot [[Samuel Adams]], as well as [[John Hancock]] were present during the events.