What was the Boston Tea Party? Who started it?

The Boston Tea Party was a very important event that helped lead to the start of the Revolutionary War. The British passed the Tea Act in 1773. The law gave a monopoly on the tea trade to the British East India Company. The Tea Act also continued the tax on tea.

The colonists were very unhappy with this. They resented the British government giving a monopoly on the tea trade to this company. They also didn’t like the tax they still had to pay when they bought tea. In several other places, the colonists successfully prevented tea shipments from reaching ports. In Boston, however, the ships did reach Boston Harbor. The Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams, bordered the three ships and threw the tea into the harbor.

The British were determined to punish the colonists. They passed the Intolerable Acts, which really affected the colonists in Massachusetts. The colonists refused to follow the Intolerable Acts, leading to more conflict between the colonists and the British.