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The Boston Tea Party

Decent Essays

Throughout this semester we discussed many different topics about modern world history. The topic that was most interesting to me was the Boston Tea Party. Many questions clouded my mind when we were talking about it. What lead to throwing the tea in the harbor? How did the “leader” of this act get people to go along with his plan? How did the British react, specifically the king? The Boston Tea Party is one of the most important protests that happened in history.
The French and Indian war was expensive for the British. At the end of the war, King George III decided that taxing the American colonies would be a way of recouping the cost of the war. He also wanted to reestablish control over the colonial governments that became independent while the war was going on. The Stamp Act, the Townsend Acts and the Boston Massacre angered the colonists. However, taxing the tea was what pushed them over the edge. This action was the groundwork for the American Revolution.
The British East India Company had financial problems due to the smuggling of Dutch tea in great quantities. This and the controversy over Parliament’s authority were the leading contributors in the Boston Tea Party. Until the mid-1700s, the East India Company paid a tax on the tea that was imported into Great Britain. This tax was according to value, based on the value of real estate and personal property. It was about 25%. The king also added additional tax on the tea that was sold for drinking in Britain. Tea

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