Tea Act

Law passed by the British Parliament on May 10, 1773. Previous attempts to tax the colonists, for example through special tax stamps for paperwork (Stamp Act), had been answered by the colonists with anger and increasing dissatisfaction with British rule. The Tea Act of 1773 would launch the final spark on the road to the American Revolution. Unlike previous measures, it was not meant to raise revenue in the colonies, and it did not impose any new taxes. Instead, it was supposed to support the East India Company which was not only in financial trouble, but sat on eighteen million pounds of tea that remained unsold. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies and sold at low prices. The Townshend Duties (an import duty of only 3 pence per pound) were still in place, however, and a lot of people in America believed that this act was a manoeuvre to buy popular support for the hated tea tax.

Whereas colonists in Philadelphia and New York turned the tea ships back to Britain, in Boston the ships were held in port, where the colonists would not allow them to unload. Cargoes of tea filled the harbor, and the British ship's crews were stalled in Boston looking for work and often finding trouble. This situation lead to the Boston Tea Party.

Sources

Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum. http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/history.asp. Accessed: Jan. 28, 2010.

Steve, Thomas: America's Homepage. http://ahp.gatech.edu/tea_act_bp_1773.html. Accessed: Jan. 28, 2010.

US History: The Tea Act. http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/teaact.htm. Accessed: Jan. 28, 2010.