The Tea ActOr How I Learned to Quit Drinking Tea and Learned to Love Coffee

Tea TimeO By 1773, colonial boycotts and

widespread smuggling had put the British East India Company – England’s largest supplier of tea – dangerously close to bankruptcy.

O 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.

Tea Act of 1773O To save the East India Company, the

British Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773.

Tea ActO The East India

Company had thousands of tons of tea it could not sell.

O To prevent bankruptcy, Parliament passed the Tea Act.

Tea Act: Part 1O The Tea Act

granted a monopoly to sell tea in the colonies to the company.

O In other words, only the East India Company could sell tea.

Tea Act: Part 2O Also, only East

India Company ships could bring tea to the colonies.

O Only selected merchants could now sell the tea in the colonies.

Tea Act: Part 3O The new rules

lowered the price of tea so it was now cheaper than tea the colonists were smuggling.

O Britain hoped the low price would attract buyers.

Tea Act: Part 4O Finally, the Tea

Act put a small tax – three cents per pound – on the tea.

O If you don’t drink tea, trust me, a pound is a lot of tea. You could entertain a lot of Englishmen.

Colonial Anger Part 1 O The Tea Act’s

monopoly greatly impacted many colonial shopkeepers and shippers – they could no longer sell or ship tea.

Colonial Anger Part 2O Other colonists

noted that there was yet another tax they had not consented too.

ProtestsO The colonists

protested the act, and in many ports East India Company Tea ships quickly turned back towards home.

O But not in Boston….

Party TimeO The ship Dartmouth,

in Boston harbor, was not allowed by British officials to leave.

O Samuel Adams gave a speech to a gathering of the Sons of Liberty and asked ‘what do we intend to do about it?’

Boston Tea PartyO 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.

AftermathO 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…”

O He was right.