The incident known as Boston Tea Drinking – Paying Taxes is Un-American!

At home and abroad, America is called the land of freedom and unlimited possibilities. The United States has a relatively short, but tumultuous, history. In this article, we bring you one very interesting story that stood at the beginning of the USA. As you can see, paying high taxes has never been American. The city of Boston, where the famous incident took place, knows about it – Boston drinking tea. However, it was not an ordinary party, but a complete uprising.

Colonies

“Make America big again.” It might seem that this sentence of the previous president heralded a deepening of the imperial policy of interference, subversion and the introduction of stricter import tariffs against hostile trading partners. However, if we look at history, we find that America is on a slightly different footing.

The British Empire intended to maintain its power and dominance over the colonies in North America, which, however, resisted repeated attempts at taxation. One of these attempts was the introduction of excise duties, respectively. customs in 1767.

Townshend’s laws

British Treasury Secretary Charles Townshend has enacted laws imposing import duties on commodities such as glass, paper, leather and, among other things, tea. In order to enforce them, completely new offices were established. However, this policy contributed to anti-British resistance in the colonies. It has lasted for some time, thanks to previous tax laws.

Even in this case, the boycott of English goods did not take long. As a result, these laws were repealed again, with the exception of the tea law.

Samuel Adams

If you remember Uncle Fester and other members of the successful Addams family, we must disappoint you. You will not see the arrival of a pale monster with bloody circles under his eyes, which will end our story humorously and fairly. But now seriously, American politician Samuel Adams has become one of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence and the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Samuel Adams was the person who pushed for unification with the other colonies in Boston. He witnessed the Boston Massacre, organized some rebel efforts, and publicly opposed British rule. He became the leader of the Sons of Freedom movement and stood at the beginning of the Boston Party, which he allegedly also organized and later defended. He relied on the constitution and the fact that it is not possible for settlers to be subject to the laws of the parliament in which they are not represented.

Boston Massacre

Let’s take a moment back in our story. We mentioned that the North American colonies refused to submit to English rule and taxation. Settler dissatisfaction resulted in open clashes between protesters and English troops. One of them ended with the aforementioned Boston Massacre, in which soldiers, pushed into the narrow by the crowd, began firing at civilians. 5 people were killed and another 11 injured. Hatred for the British has deepened.

Taxes

Townshend’s laws were unsuccessful, as were previous British attempts to tax North American colonies, and were repealed. However, as a sign of authority and apparently also pride of the British, the tea one was left. The settlers solved it by boycotting. For England and especially the British East India Tea Company, this meant big losses. Its sales in the colonies fell to less than 1%.

Townshend’s successor, Frederick North, took the next step after some calming of the situation, albeit an apparent one. He introduced the so-called The Tea Act, which was to allow their companies to sell significantly below cost (even on the black market). In addition, it allowed it to bypass American wholesalers and thus build a virtually monopoly. The direct consequence was the following event.

Boston tea drinking

Our story culminates on December 16, 1773. The waters of the Boston Wharf are filled with over 300 boxes of delicious black tea with an unobtrusive nutmeg flavor and a wonderful aroma, Darjeeling. It is carefully prepared in local waters by a group of rioters disguised as Mohawk Indians. The actors of the uprising allegedly showed identification with America, which they preferred to the English crown.

This party is watched by a quiet and disciplined crowd until the entire cargo, worth more than a million pounds at today’s prices, has been carefully prepared and served to the people of the Atlantic. Members of the mysterious Freemasons’ Association are also reportedly present. However, this information cannot be reliably confirmed or refuted. One thing is for sure, the settlers will not pay import duties for this tea

Governor Thomas Hutchinson was disgusted, the British were outraged. The port was soon closed and the so-called Coercive laws, but better known as Unacceptable Laws. The revolution could not be reversed and the British soon became convinced of it, but that is a different story and theme for another time.

Conclusion

Recognizing domination over another country and, above all, high taxation has never been one of what we might call “American.” Boston’s tea drinking is a historic example of this.