On December 16, 1773, exactly 250 years ago today, protesters threw a shipment of tea into Boston Harbor. In elementary school, we learn that it was an illustration of the building frustration of the American colonists that eventually led to the American Revolution. That’s where we learned the phrase “taxation without representation!” At the time, though, some of the man who became the Founding Fathers were horrified at such vandalism, and thought the perpetrators should be arrested or at least have to make restitution for the £10,000 in tea they destroyed.
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The tax situation that led to the Boston Tea Party, as it later was called, was more complicated than just a tax on tea. It certainly wasn’t the only protest, either, but it was more memorable and fun for elementary students than, say, the Boston Massacre. Colonists in New York and Philadelphia intercepted shipments of tea before they could reach land. In Boston, patriots surrounded ships in the harbor and prevented them from unloading for a couple of weeks before they seized the tea. On December 16, thousands of colonists witnessed the destruction, but told no one and left almost no written records, lest the British authorities find out who was responsible. Learn the real story of the Boston Tea Party, which was planned earlier and involved more people than you learned about in school, at Smithsonian.
Source: neatorama