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The Boston Tea Party was a protest by the Sons of Liberty against the British East India Company in which they destroyed many crates of tea on ships in Boston Harbor. The incident, which took place on 16 December 1773, has been seen as helping to spark the American Revolution
On December 16, 1773, the evening before the tea was supposed to be landed, the Sons of Liberty, a group of about 60 Boston residents organized by Samuel Adams, burst from the Old South Meeting House and headed toward Griffin's Wharf, dressed as Mohawks.
Three ships — the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver — were loaded with hundreds of crates of tea.
The men boarded the ships and began destroying the cargo. By 9pm they had smashed 342 crates of tea in all three ships and had thrown them into Boston Harbor. They took off their shoes, swept the decks, and made each ship's first mate agree to say that the Sons of Liberty had destroyed only the tea.
The whole event was remarkably quiet and peaceful. This act brought criticism from both colonial and British officials.
For instance, Benjamin Franklin stated that the destroyed tea must be repaid and offered to repay with his own money. The British government responded harshly by closing the port of Boston and put in place other laws that were known as the "Intolerable Acts".
This act proved to be one of those that led to America's fight for independence. At the very least, the Boston Tea Party and the reaction that followed served to rally support for revolutionaries in the 13 colonies who were eventually successful in their fight for independence.
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