On December 16, 1773 American natinalists dumped crates of tea from a British ship into the Boston Harbor in a protest over rising taxes imposed by the British colonists.
Known after that as the Boston Tea Party, which was a direct action by colonists in Boston over the rising taxes. The incident is still an iconic event of American history, and other political protests often refer to it.
The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. They believed that the taxes violated their right to be taxed only by their own elevated representatives. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, the Royal Governor refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. He was not expecting the protestors to destroy the tea.
The Boston Tea Party was a key event in the growth of the American Revolution. Parliament responded in 1774 with the Coercive Acts, which, among other provisions, closed Boston’s commerce until the British East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea. The crisis escalated, and the American Revolutionary War began near Boston in 1775.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
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A Signal event…:yes: 😉
Tea has some fascinating stories attached to it, this one in particular 🙂
I know why it was important, but it still seems like a waste of good tea!
I agree with you Tom it was a complete waste 🙂