13. The Boston Tea Party

The thirteen colonies along the coast obeyed the laws of England, and were proud of the “Mother Land,” as they called England, until the new king, George III, made the colonists pay taxes on the goods they received from England. They felt this was wrong so long as they had no part in deciding what taxes they should pay, and had no representation in the law-making. “We are no slaves, or children! We have rights, and our rights should be respected,” they said. The king replied, “The Americans shall pay a tax only on tea.” In anger the colonists said: “We will never drink tea, if we have to pay a tax upon it. We will drink tea made of sage and raspberry leaves first.”

In Charleston the tea was taken off the ships and left in damp cellars to spoil because no one would buy it. New York and Philadelphia did not even allow the tea-ships to land; and when they sailed into Boston Harbor, the people held a great meeting in Faneuil Hall and in South Church. Samuel Adams and John Hancock, their leaders, made grand speeches. Some one cried out, “I wonder how the tea would taste with salt water?” This made everybody laugh. But that night fifty men, dressed up and painted like Indians, went out to the harbor, rowed out to the tea-ships and threw overboard three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the sea. The next morning the tea was seen washed up on the shore. When the colonists heard of this Tea Party all were happy—but King George said, “The leaders shall die for this!” And that was the beginning of the war of the Revolution.