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The American Revolution: The Edenton Tea Party

Decent Essays

The Edenton Tea Party from Week II topics relates to our discussions of the Boston Tea Party, which sparked the fight for independence from Britain in the Revolutionary War. By 1774, this uprising soon reached Edenton, North Carolina, where the women assembled an alliance to support colonial resistance to British measures, in response to the Tea Act of 1773. On May 10, 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act which granted the British East India Company control of tea sales in the American colonies. This act, passed by King George III, was not meant to raise revenue in the colonies, nor did it impose a new tax on tea — it was passed in efforts to save the East India Company from going bankrupt. However, many American colonists strongly opposed to …show more content…

Before their arrival, most of the colonies had become aware of the act that had been imposed and resolved to reject any tea shipments from the East India Company, refusing all ships to come inland — all except for Boston. In late November, three shiploads of tea arrived at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston harbour. The Dartmouth arriving first was prevented from being unloaded by a man by the name of Samuel Adams. Adams was the leader of the Sons of Liberty, a group of men united to resist new taxation. It was only a few days later when two more ships arrived: Eleanor and Beaver. Upon their arrival, the colonists held a meeting at the Old South Meetinghouse determining that the ships should be released without any payment of duty. Thomas Hutchinson, the Royal Governor, heard about the colonists meeting and immediately refused the ships to leave, insisting that the taxes must be paid. This greatly infuriated the colonists and that evening, they planned to retaliate. On the night of December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams led a group of colonists who disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians. This group of men, the Sons of Liberty, consisted of artisans, craftsmen and many others who were determined to defend their rights against the British. The masked-men “boarded the three British ships and dumped over three-hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the Boston

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