Most Famous Protest Against The Tea Act example essay topic

By 1773 the powerful British East India Company was almost bankrupt. Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773. The law excised the company from paying certain duties and permitted it to bypass the wholesalers and sell tea directly to American agents. Most of the colonists, however, opposed the Tea Act and refused to buy the tea. The sons of Liberty in Philadelphia and New York threatened anyone who imported tea. But the most famous protest against the Tea Act occurred in Massachusetts.

On December 16, 1773, after the governor refused demands to send three shiploads of tea back to England, colonists held a mass meeting at Boston's Old South Church. Later that night, a well-organized group of colonists "dressed in an Indian manner" boarded the tea ships anchored in Boston Harbor and dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into the water. INTOLERABLE ACTS British Officials were furious. Parliament responded by passing the Coercive Acts, four laws designed to punish Boston and the rest of Massachusetts and to strengthen British control over all of the colonies. The first act closed the port of Boston until the colonist paid for the destroyed tea. The second act revoked the Massachusetts charter of 1961 and forbid the Massachusetts colonist to hold town meetings.

The Quebec Act, also passed in 1774, was not technically one of the Intolerable Acts, but if further inflamed colonial resentment. The movement toward colonial unity quickened after 1774. THE TOWNSHEND ACTS Charles Townshend believe that the colonists had opposed the stamp tax because it was collected within colonies. Parliament agreed, passing the Townshend Acts in 1767.

Townshend Acts placed import duties on such common items as tea, lead, glass and dyes for paint. Great Britain's right to regulate colonial trade, strongly objected duties to raise money. The New York assembly responded by refusing to vote money quarter, or house and supply, these troops as the Quatering Act of 1765 required. The British government promptly suspended the assembly. SONS OF LIBERTY The Sons of Liberty were secret committees made up of politicians, lawyers, merchants and artisans, formed to protest the Stamp Act. Samuel Adams was one of the leaders of the Boston Sons of Liberty.

Born in 1722, Adams graduated from Harvard College, but failed in the family brewing business. He fared better at politics. The Stamp Act crisis turned him into a key political activist. Adams was also a master of propaganda he often worked behind the scenes, staging demonstrations and working to control the public's perception of events. COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE Bostonian's, led by Sam Adams, challenged this latest threat. They created a 21-member Committee of Correspondence charged with keeping the rest of the colony - and "the World" - informed about events.

From 1772 of 1776, similar committees in Massachusetts and other colonies helped shaped colonial opinion. WRITS OF ASSISTANCE Unlike today's search warrants, which must state the exact articles sought and the specific places to be searched, writs of assistance were general warrants. Armed with a writ a customs officer could search any vessels, warehouse, or home on the mere suspicion that it contained smuggled goods. Charles Townshed believed that the colonists had opposed the stamp tax because it was collected within colonies.

Parliament agreed, passing the Townshed Acts in 1767.