Ructions in Boston over the tae

GOVERNMENTS have always succeeded in finding new ways of levying taxes. There have been taxes on beards, chimneys, windows, everything you can imagine and some would suggest that the Irish Government had the ultimate tax when they taxed septic tanks.

Not many taxes have been the spark that started wars but that happened with a tax on tea. In popular stories, when the colonists in New England dumped a cargo of tea into Boston Harbour, it marked the start of the American Revolution. It was simply just another step in the deteriorating relations between Britain and the colonies.

 

Some people had spoken of breaking the link with Britain and some of the more successful merchants wanted freedom from the controls imposed by the Westminster Parliament. During the war with France, a militia was formed to defend the colonies from French attack. Britain wanted the colonies to pay for the cost of these militia but because the threat from France was ended, these militia gradually came under the control of officers who favoured the break, which did not help the British position.

However, the main complaint was the taxes imposed by a parliament in which the colonies had no representation.

Tea was actually a major issue in the taxation battle. The East India Tea Company had a monopoly on the importation of tea from China. Westminster passed a law requiring the colonies to import all their tea from England. The East India Company sold its tea to British companies who then exported to America. At each stage, the tea was taxed and the monies paid to the British Government. All the time Dutch smugglers were selling tea in England and America, which was not subject to British taxes and thus much cheaper. The main issue the colonists had was that they were not allowed to import their own tea and being forced to buy tea from English companies all because of laws passed by the Westminster Parliament at which they had no representation. Matters came to a head in 1773.

Seven ships sailed to America carrying over half a million pounds of tea. Protest groups, some calling themselves Sons of Liberty, opposed the landing of the tea. They demanded that the captains of the ships return their cargo to England. In New York, Charlestown and Philadelphia, the importers were forced to refuse the shipments and the tea was sent back. In Boston, the governor refused to let the ships leave without paying the taxes and demanded that they land the tea. They had 20 days to comply. A mass public meeting was arranged on the deadline date but the Governor still refused.

That evening, a group of men, some dressed as Mohawk Indian Warriors, boarded the three ships and dumped all the tea into the harbour. Their protest was illegal but another reason for the disguises was that they were expressing their American identity rather than their British one.

The following year saw a succession of further laws passed at Westminster called the Intolerable Acts and shortly afterwards, the colonists and redcoats clashed at Concorde and Lexington starting the full-scale American Revolution. One of the stages en route was the dumping of tea into Boston Harbour.

That Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773, 239 years ago this week.