The American Revolution Begins

Old South Meeting House

On December 16, 1773, an estimated 7,000 people crowded into Boston's Old South Meeting House and the surrounding streets.

On a cue from Sam Adams, sixty patriots disguised as "Mohawks" shouted war whoops, marched to the waterfront, tossed 342 crates of tea overboard and triggered the American Revolution.

John Adams wote in his diary that night... 

"This is the most magnificent Movement of all. There is a Dignity, a Majesty, a Sublimity, in this last Effort of the Patriots, that I greatly admire. ...

This Destruction of the Tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important Consequences. . ."

More about Sam Adams, the mastermind of the American Revolution here.