1. Aim: What is the significance of the Boston Tea Party?

2. Long Road Leading to Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a result of a long road of tension between the Colonists and England
Boston is the hot bead of anti-British activity
Boston Massacre (1770)
Sons of Liberty
Boycotts of British good
Lets Do Some Review

3. British Enforcement of Smuggling Laws
British need money to pay off debts from French and Indian War
Catch smugglers; which was everyone
1763: All people accused of smuggling would be tried in Admiralty Courts
Not colonial courts where accused would be acquitted by sympathetic juries

4. Sugar Act (1764)
Raised taxes on sugar, molasses, silk, wine, and coffee

5. Stamp Act (1765) Taxed all printed materials Newspapers Mortgages
Licenses
Playing Cards
Etc.
Repealed in 1766

6. Townshend Act (1767) Taxes on glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea
Allowed British customs officers to search any ship.

7. Boston Massacre (1770)
British troops were sent to the colonies to enforce the Acts
Snow balls and rocks thrown at soldiers
No one knows how shots first fired
5 Colonists Dead
John Adams: Boston Massacre Scene

8. Causes of Boston Tea Party
British enforcement of smuggling duties
The Sugar Act (1764)
Stamp Act (1765)
Townshend Acts (1767)
Boston Massacre (1770)
Tea Act (1773)

9. Tea Act (1773) Actually lowered the cost of tea!
Made British shipped Tea cheaper than the Colonial smuggled Dutch Tea
Colonists were set to lose lots of revenue

10. What is the Boston Tea Party?
December 17, 1773
150 Men dressed as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor
Major Leaders: John Hancock and Sam Adams

11. Results
Results
1. Britain punishes Boston (close down Boston harbor…troops come to occupy Boston)
2. Symbolic act of resistance…news spreads throughout the colonies and many colonists cheer
Bostonians for their resistance to British

12. Results (cont’d)
3. Similar Tea Parties: Philadelphia, Charleston S.C., NYC, Princeton N.J., York, Maine
4. The issue was never the tea but how the tax was passed without American representation;
United States Congress taxed tea from 1789 to 1872.

13. http://www.teaparty.org/ (end with a look at this)
School house rock:
America the story of US:
BBC:
COMMACK:

14. Questions How did each tax/event cause the Boston Tea Party?
Which one was the most important?
Which one was the least important?
How would Britain respond to the Party?