1. Or How I Learned to Quit Drinking Tea and Learned to Love Coffee
The Tea Act
Or How I Learned to Quit Drinking Tea and Learned to Love Coffee

2. Tea Time
By 1773, colonial boycotts and widespread smuggling had put the British East India Company – England’s largest supplier of tea – dangerously close to bankruptcy.
The East India Company was a favorite of the British Parliament. It made a huge amount of money, and many representatives in Parliament had invested money in the company.

3. Tea Act of 1773
To save the East India Company, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773.

4. Tea Act
The East India Company had thousands of tons of tea it could not sell.
To prevent bankruptcy, Parliament passed the Tea Act.

5. Tea Act: Part 1
The Tea Act granted a monopoly to sell tea in the colonies to the company.
In other words, only the East India Company could sell tea.

6. Tea Act: Part 2
Also, only East India Company ships could bring tea to the colonies.
Only selected merchants could now sell the tea in the colonies.

7. Tea Act: Part 3
The new rules lowered the price of tea so it was now cheaper than tea the colonists were smuggling.
Britain hoped the low price would attract buyers.

8. Tea Act: Part 4
Finally, the Tea Act put a small tax – three cents per pound – on the tea.
If you don’t drink tea, trust me, a pound is a lot of tea. You could entertain a lot of Englishmen.

9. Colonial Anger Part 1
The Tea Act’s monopoly greatly impacted many colonial shopkeepers and shippers – they could no longer sell or ship tea.

10. Colonial Anger Part 2
Other colonists noted that there was yet another tax they had not consented too.

11. Protests
The colonists protested the act, and in many ports East India Company Tea ships quickly turned back towards home.
But not in Boston….

12. Party Time
The ship Dartmouth, in Boston harbor, was not allowed by British officials to leave.
Samuel Adams gave a speech to a gathering of the Sons of Liberty and asked ‘what do we intend to do about it?’

13. Boston Tea Party
50 Sons of Liberty, poorly disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded the ship and dumped 120 chests of tea into Boston harbor. The Tea was worth about 9,600 British pounds.

14. Aftermath
Upon hearing the news, John Adams wrote in his journal that “the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor was so bold, so daring, that it must have far reaching consequences…”
He was right.