Why Was The Boston Tea Party Important?
| Best Quick Answer:
The Boston tea party was important because it broke out the dam for the American Revolution & Revolutionary War. 1. Phase One: The Boston tea party was a huge economic disaster for the British East India Company & the English government. Similarly, the event was a challenge to the authority of Great Britain over the 13 colonies. 2. Phase Two: As retaliation for their doing, in the next year in 1774, the Parliament of Great Britain imposed 5 Intolerable Acts on the 13 colonies. Especially through the acts, they targeted the province of Massachusetts. These 5 laws were highly punitive to the colonists. 3. Phase Three: Because of this reason, the anger of the colonists became even more intense on the British Parliament and King George III. From the 5 punitive laws, they understood that the English authority has no sympathy toward their interests. 4. Phase Four: At the end of the year 1774, on September 5th, 12 of the 13 colonies met in a meeting in Philadelphia, famous as the First Continental Congress. 5. Phase Five: In this meeting, they decided to take some actions to counter the five bad laws passed by the English authority. Such as boycotting English economic goods, set-up colonies’ own militia for probable armed conflict, etc. 6. Phase Six: Finally, after these actions and counteractions, on April 19th, 1775, the battles of Lexington and Concord broke out. The battles fully kicked off the Revolutionary War of America’s independence. Learn In-Depth Below. |
In-Depth Description – Why Was Boston Tea Party Important?
Boston tea party cleared the route to the American Revolution and then the 13 colonies’ independence from the clutches of the British Parliament and King George III.
On December 16th, 1773, the tea party took place at Boston Harbor.
The day, 130 patriots from the Sons of Liberty organization, led by Samuel Adams, boarded some ships that arrived from England carrying a huge amount of tea to the North American colonies. The ships carried the British East India Company’s tea.
But the patriots dumped them all into the heart of the Atlantic Ocean at Boston Harbor. Around 342 boxes of tea got dumped, which were worth around 10,000 pounds at that time. Present-day valuation is around 1 million dollars.
Those people were mainly unhappy with the new Tea Act of 1773 passed by the British Parliament. The new tea act indirectly authorized the East India Company to monopolize the North American colonies’ entire tea market.
After this happened, the British government took some tough actions against American colonists and passed 5 retaliatory laws to punish them.
Those five acts were:
- The Massachusetts Government Act (1774)
- The Quebec Act (1774)
- The Boston Port Act (1774)
- The Administration of Justice Act (1774)
- The Quartering Act (1774)
Some Bad Actions Through The Acts Were Something Like This
1. The British government decided that all trade through the Boston Harbour would remain closed until Bostonians pay all the compensation to the East India Company. Along with that, the Parliament also demanded colonists apologize to the English King George III for their doing.
2. The British appointed their military commander as the new Governor of Massachusetts so that the military can easily take strict actions against the rebels.
3. Through the Quebec Act, the British tried to create some religious distances between the colonists. Here, they intended to provide Roman Catholics with some special facilities. Also, this new law increased Canada’s land area towards the Ohio River. A large area from several American colonies was given to Canada.
How Did Colonists Respond To The Five Bad Laws?
In 1774, from 5th September to October 26th, 12 of the 13 colonies met at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Their primary goal was to counter all the bad laws and protect the rights of the colonists.
In this meeting, colonies’ delegates decided to boycott British economic goods import to the colonies, they also agreed to set up their own militias for probable armed conflicts.
This was the meeting, after which the whole scenario changes its route to the Revolutionary war. The first battles of the Revolutionary War were fought on 19th April 1775, at Lexington & Concord. The armed conflicts fully kicked off the American Revolutionary War.
