From Protest To Revolution

One lump or two … Tea was wildly popular in the colonies. By 1770, at least one million Americans brewed tea at least twice a day. Remember that England had repealed all the taxes that they put on the colonists except the one on tea. Many colonists continued to boycott tea. For the first time, England was actually having a hard time getting rid of their tea. 15 million pounds of tea sat unsold in English warehouses.

Here’s the way the tea trade worked in the colonies. Tea Companies like the British East India Company sold tea to colonial tea merchants Those tea merchants then took the tea and sold it to the colonists at a slightly higher price so that they could make a profit.

The Tea Act In order to sell the excess tea, Parliament came up with the Tea Act. The Tea Act allowed British tea companies to sell the tea straight to the colonists, bypassing the tea merchants. This would have made the tea very cheap, even with a tax. I pity the fool that messes with my tea.

So basically, the colonists had a chance to get their tea at the cheapest price ever! Sure, they would be cutting out the colonial tea traders, and sure they would still be paying the tax, but the tea would be cheaper than ever. Do you think the colonists took the deal?

And the protest goes on…and on Even though the tea was cheaper, the colonists stood up for the tea merchants saying that their right to sell tea was being violated. More and more tea filled warehouses in England.

The Boston Tea Party Three ships loaded with English tea arrived in Boston in late November, Sam Adams, and a group of colonists sent word to the governor that those ships better leave. The governor did not listen. Dressed like Indians, the colonists stormed the ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

They did what??? The king was enraged at the lawlessness of the Massachusetts colonists. The King closed Boston harbor until the colonists paid for the tea, he shut down town meetings in Boston, he let British officials choose juries instead of the colonists, and he reinstated the quartering act. The four laws were so terrible, they became known as the Intolerable acts.

I got your back!! Colonists from all thirteen colonies supported the people in Boston. They sent food and supplies. They even boycotted British goods and refused to export anything to England until the intolerable acts were lifted. You don’t want none of this England!

The Shot Heard Round the World The colonists were preparing for battle. People called minutemen trained daily. They got their name because they were supposed to be ready at a moments notice. When the troops in Boston heard about weapons being stockpiled in a town called Concord, they set out to seize the weapons. Two fights happened that day. One brief fight at Lexington, and one at concord. These were the first battles of the American Revolution.