BOSTON TEA PARTY
If a person with poor knowledge of history hears the name of the event it will arouse association with some meeting of forebears known by their portraits on bank notes, sitting at a served table with cups in their hands. The fact that the event took place in Boston in the territory called Massachusetts being a British colony at those times and that later becoming a state, one might guess from the name and tea really had a relation with this historical fact. The name of the event is of an ironically uttered character. In order to understand why such a big party of expensive goods has been destroyed, it is advised to know the international situation of that time.
This event took place on December 16, 1773 that is considered to be momentous for the United States; from that moment the war of American English colonies for their independence had begun or, in another words, it was a start of American Revolution. Boston Tea Party became a key event in the development of American Revolution. The event arose as a result of settling of two issues which were raised before British Empire in 1765: financial problems in British East India Company and continuous discrepancies about the role of Parliament power over the British American colonies without elective representatives. The attempt of the North state to resolve these issues has lead to the development of revolution (Labaree, 1964).
India has established new marine company with the purpose of importation of tea from British colonies. The effective competition on the market of shippers of the colonial produce to Europe has lead to the emersion of monopolists. In tea delivery such company was the English East India Company established in 1600; in 1698 the British parliament gave the sole right to the company on tea delivery to the United Kingdom. In 1721 the British parliament decreed that American colonies bought tea only in Great Britain; it was designed at stifling of the competition between North-American British colonies. Of course this has resulted in increase of taxes and duties as well as price rise. Taking into account such increase of taxes and duties, it became more profitable for people to buy a contraband tea, mainly imported from Holland where it had not been assessed. In spite of the fact that the biggest market of contraband tea was in England, illegal tea had been delivered by short ways.
First disputes between Great Britain and its North-American colonies arose in 1760s when the Parliament made an attempt to impose a tax in the colonies for a profit increase. The colonists pointed at the fact that in accordance with British Constitution British nationals might be assessed only by its office in the Parliament and since such office did not exist, the colonists might not be assessed at all.
They boycotted Stamp Act (1765) and laws in 1767; East India company was financially challenged because of the mood of colonialists. In reply of these events the British government has issued "Tea law" which allowed to East India company to sell tea in North-American colonies explicitly without paying taxes and duties to Great Britain for it instead of considerably smaller American fee. The last allowed company to sell tea at a price much lower than earlier and cheaper than any other propositions of local sellers of tea and smugglers. But the colonists instead of being glad that the price on tea lowered had resented because damping of East India company affected interests of colonists that had grown rich due to contraband trade. Such discontent found its reflection in New York and Philadelphia, and Boston people suspected Great Britain of creating move for independence of the colonies. Business and houses of those who haven't given consent to boycott were robbed. In the end of 1773 another ship of East India company came to Boston harbor delivering tea, it was called "Darmouth". There in the harbor a mix was arranged, it was the idea of Samuel Adams, a collector of taxes and leader of separatist organization "Sons of freedom". Orators called on the auditory of people to avoid British laws, boycott East India campaign and even refuse of obeyance to Tomas Hadchinson, a governor. The owner and captain of the ship wasted to return to England not dispatching cargo of tea, governor demanded the dispatch (possibly he had a material cause for it) and people (more leaders of "Sons of freedom") declared for destruction of the goods (What was the Boston Tea Party, n.d.).
The group of the mentioned organization dressed and pretended Indians (some say they counted for the case if they failed), entered into the ship and threw out all cargo of tea and other 2 ships which amounted to 45 tons of tea thrown overboard. If represented in money it is 1, 87 million of U.S. dollars in accordance with prices of the present time. Except for tea there was no things damaged or stolen which evidences that the only purpose of such boycott was protection of the society from paying big taxes for the goods.
Some citizens made attempts to gather tea leaves but later such tea was admitted improper. The forth ship of East India company had not suffered because its route was to Provincetown. All 58 shipped packages of tea survived and had been delivered to Boston in safety.
At those times news had been fetched very slowly. First it was heard by citizens of New York which caused a wave of enthusiasm also in all British North-American colonies. London heard about the news only three months later. "Boston Tea Party" was qualified by British government as a revolt which in reality could be called so. The decisions as for the event were made quickly and definitely. British government decided to interlock Boston, introduce embargo in trade cooperation with Massachusetts, to estrange local administration and claim that the area was in military situation, and appoint new governor for the post. These decisions were fair enough but it was definitely hard to make them real.
When Benjamin Franklin, the American political leader claimed that all damaged packages of goods had to be paid for, it was decided to resort to Lord Norton (the prime-minister of Great Britain) with an issue of indemnification but he didn't accept the plea.
In this regard, colonists supporting their country, refused from tea for a while and brewed raspberry leaves but their inspiration was not so long and all came full circle. England did not garrison for suppression of separatist movements that's why there was no need to shift the blame on the Indians. On the first continental congress Adams who came out as a people's deputy from Massachusetts persisted on battle with England and called on declaration of independence of the country. Three years have passed before the United States of America gained its independence on July 4, 1776.
The figure of Samuel Adams was perceived by Americans contradictorily, one part of the population was in favor of his actions that lead to their liberation, he was even called a revolutionary hero, and the other part was against Adams, they considered him to be a conspirator who using propaganda, provoked street skirmishes with the purpose of achieving his own political goals. Samuel Adams participated in creation of Declaration of Independence of the USA in 1776 and Articles of Confederation in 1777 but considered that it was dangerous for Washington to strive to enhance power of federal district. After the revolution political leader returned to Boston and where he was elected in 1789 vice-governor, and later in 1794 Adams became a governor of Massachusetts (Freedman & Malone, 2012).
"Boston Tea Party" has a lot of second names given by different groups of population. One of such groups called the event promotional, creation of "information" reason for escalation of tension in the relationships with England.
Boston people are proud that one of the most important historical events was in their territory and there are a lot of interesting museums and monument dedicated to "Boston Tea Party" nowadays.
And from those times tea is not just a drink but a synonym of political if not a struggle than activity. It is important to mention that Founding fathers of the USA were not against taxes for delivered tea. Tax bill was presented on the first United States Congress, even before assuming the office of president George Washington, the law was accepted and signed by Washington on July 4, 1789, tax for tea ranged between 6 and 20 cents for pound, and rates were twice higher if the ship was in the name of another country.
Boston Tea Party is frequently mentioned along with other political protests, when in 1908 actions of Mahatma Gandi lead to burning of registration cards in South Africa, it was compared by people as the event equal to Boston Tea Party. In the USA representatives of different political ideas refer to the event as one of the most influential and successful in the history of the United States.
Boston Tea Party started from simple importation of the goods and the country imposed taxes on this production. It is evidently and clear that people buying the goods on low and accessible price did not accept the rise of the price properly. The organizations helped people to protect their rights and, as a result, they gained the independence for the United States. This is the stage which every independent country underwent and now these people are happy to bring up their children and build their live independently supporting amicable relationships with its former owner-state.
The event that stoke all population and turned the course of history happened very suddenly. We remember and we are proud of our history, one of the considerable parts of which was Boston Tea Party; we won’t forget these events and won’t let our children to forget them. We will remember through the whole life the event that leads to the independence of their country.
References
Freedman, R., & Malone, P. (2012). The Boston Tea Party. New York: Holiday House.
Labaree, B. (1964). The Boston Tea Party. New York: Oxford University Press.
Oleksy, W. (1993). The Boston Tea Party. New York: F. Watts.
The Boston Tea Party. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://www.masshist.org/revolution/teaparty.php
What was the Boston Tea Party? (n.d.). Boston Tea Party. Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://www.boston-tea-party.org/
