American Revolution in Massachusetts

The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor (c. 1846)

Incident
Over the course of three hours a group of 30-130 men, some of them disguised as Mohawk warriors, boarded three ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The destroyed tea was worth an estimated $1.7 million in current US dollars.

Cause
The Tea Act of 1773, which allowed the British East India Company (BEIC) to directly ship their tea to the colonies tax and duty free, while previous legislation required the colonists to pay taxes and duties on certain imported items (including tea.) Protesters against the Tea Act in other colonies had had success in convincing BEIC ship owners to return to England without unloading their cargo. Thomas Hutchinson, by then the Governor, refused to allow three BEIC ships to leave Boston in early December without the duties for the cargo being paid and the cargo unloaded.

Effects
Because the identities of the men who participated were not known, no one was ever prosecuted. Shortly after the incident Parliament began passing a collection of laws known as the Intolerable Acts to punish Massachusetts and tighten their control over the colonies.