To date it is known that people are documented to have participated. Not all of the participants of the Boston Tea Party are known; many carried the secret of their participation to their graves. The participants were made up of males from all walks of colonial society.
Many were from Boston or the surrounding area, but some participants are documented to have come from as far away as Worcester in central Massachusetts and Maine. The vast majority was of English descent, but men of Irish, Scottish, French, Portuguese, and African ancestry were documented to have also participated. The participants were off all ages, but the majority of the documented participants was under the age of forty.
Sixteen participants were teenagers, and only nine men were above the age of forty. Many of the Boston Tea Party participants fled Boston immediately after the destruction of the tea to avoid arrest. Thousands witnessed the event, and the implication and impact of this action were enormous ultimately leading to the start of the American Revolution. Learn More. American Indians. In an effort to hide their true identities, many of the Sons of Liberty attempted to pass themselves off as Mohawk Indians because if caught for their actions they would have faced severe punishment.
Reports from the time describe the participants as dressed as Mohawks or Narragansett Indians. The disguise was mostly symbolic in nature; they knew they would be recognized as non-Indians. When I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place of our destination.
The three ships were the Beaver, Dartmouth, and Eleanor. Each of the three ships carried more than one hundred chests of British East India Company tea. The Sons of Liberty on the night of December 16, , offloaded the tea cargoes of all three ships. There were to be four ships sailing from London carrying cargoes of British East India Company tea to Boston, but the William ran aground off Cape Cod on December 10, in a violent storm. The cargo of 58 chests of British East India Company tea was salvaged before the William was abandoned.
A portion of the salvaged tea cargo ended up in Boston and was later destroyed by the Sons of Liberty. A popular misconception is the belief the Tea Party Ships were British. In fact, the vessels were built in America and owned by Americans, but the cargo of tea they were carrying from London to Boston was owned by the British East India Company. The Eleanor was one of several vessels owned by leading Boston merchant, John Rowe.
In addition to India, the British East India Company had extensive dealings in China because of the lucrative opium trade. Additionally, they also transported Hyson and Singlo teas, which were both green teas from the Chinese province of Anhui. The shipment of British East India Company tea the three ships delivered to Boston consisted of chests of Bohea, 60 chests of Singlo, 15 chests of Congou, 15 chests of Hyson, and 10 chests of Souchong.
The word Tory comes from several Middle Irish words meaning robbers, outlaws or pursued men. Prior to the American Revolution, the term Tory evolved into describing those who upheld the right of the King over Parliament, and during the Revolution took on the form to describe anyone who remained loyal to Britain. During the American Revolution, it is documented that over twenty thousand Tories took up arms and fought with the British Army against the Patriots.
They were branded traitors for remaining loyal to their king and fighting for what they believed in. When American independence was achieved at the close of the American Revolution, many Tories either fled or were kicked out of the newly formed United States and relocated primarily to Britain, Canada, the Bahamas, and Africa where they founded Sierra Leone.
During the American Revolution it is estimated one-third of the population of the Thirteen Colonies were Tories, one-third were Patriots, and one-third remained neutral. According to some modern estimates, the destroyed tea could have brewed 18,, cups of tea!
The destruction of the tea was a very costly blow to the British. Besides the destruction of the tea, historical accounts record no damage was done to any of the three ships, the crew or any other items onboard the ships except for one broken padlock. Great care was taken by the Sons of Liberty to avoid the destruction of personal property — save for the cargo of British East India Company tea. Nothing was stolen or looted from the ships, not even the tea.
One participant tried to steal some tea but was reprimanded and stopped. The Sons of Liberty were very careful about how the action was carried out and made sure nothing besides the tea was damaged. After the destruction of the tea, the participants swept the decks of the ships clean, and anything that was moved was put back in its proper place. The crews of the ships attested to the fact there had been no damage to any of the ships except for the destruction of their cargoes of tea.
No one died during the Boston Tea Party. There was no violence and no confrontation between the Patriots, the Tories and the British soldiers garrisoned in Boston. No members of the crews of the Beaver, Dartmouth, or Eleanor were harmed.
The Acts not only took away home rule from Massachusetts, it forced all Americans to board British troops in unoccupied buildings. The other colonies saw the Acts as a punishment targeted at all of them, and by September , the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to determine an appropriate response.
The following April, fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord, and the American Revolution was underway. Toggle navigation.
Sign up for our email newsletter. Sign Up. Shop Merchandise. Search for: Search. Close search. Boston Tea Party History. Engraving by E. Newberry, New York Public Library. Tax Deadline With the arrival of the three shipments of British East India Company tea to Boston, the tax on tea, which had been implemented with the passing of the Townshend Revenue Act, had to be paid the moment the tea was unloaded from the Beaver , Dartmouth , and Eleanor.
0コメント