The Boston Tea Party

On this day in 1773, patriots in Boston, led by Sam Adams, were organizing the Boston Tea Party. An estimated crowd of 7,000 pressed into Old South Meeting House (the pews are a later addition) and jammed the surrounding streets. The heart of the issue was "no taxation without representation." The provocation was the arrival of the Dartmouth on November 28, the first of three British ships to arrive loaded with crates of tea that would be subject to tax. Custom officials had refused to allow the tea to land. The clock began ticking on the ship's "probation period."

Sam Adams had proposed at a public meeting that the tea be returned to England. British war ships sat in the harbor prepared to sink any ship that attempted to sail without the proper paperwork. The situation had reached a crisis point.

Shortly after 6 p.m. on December 16, 1773, Sam Adams was notified that the loyalist governor, Thomas Hutchinson, would not grant permits for the Dartmouth to leave Boston. As moderator, Adams announced to the crowd, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country." The statement was a prearranged cue. 60 members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as "Mohawks," shouted war whoops and headed for the doors.

Followed by an enthusiastic crowd, they marched to Griffin's Wharf and hurled over $2 million dollars worth of tea (in 2025 dollars) into the harbor.

John Adams wrote in his diary the next day, "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. The People should never rise, without doing something to be remembered—something notable And striking. This Destruction of the Tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important Consequences. . ." It was the triggering event of the American Revolution.

Learn more about Samuel Adams and the origins of the American Revolution here.

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