We just finished studying the Boston Tea Party. We looked at what lead up to it, what the colonists did to avoid it, and what happened as a result. We’ve focused on the fact that the tea tax was more of a gesture from King George that asserted his power over the colonies, rather than a way to earn money for England. We also lingered on the idea that the colonists took several steps before they decided to dump the tea in December 1773—The Boston Tea Party was not their first attempt at communicating their displeasure to King George. Here’s what the class had to say on what lead up to the Boston Tea Party:
1. One of the only remaining taxes was the tea tax, which the colonists didn’t want to pay, especially since they weren’t represented in Parliament.
2. They boycotted tea, and when that didn’t work, they refused to unload a November shipment in Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
3. In New York and Philadelphia, the governors supported the Patriots, and the ships returned to England
4. The governor of Boston, Governor Hutchinson, did not send the ships back to England. His sons worked for the British East India Company, and he knew tea in the colonies = money for his sons.
5. While the Patriots were waiting for a decision from Governor Hutchinson, the Sons of Liberty met to plan what they’d do if he didn’t cooperate with them. They went to the British East India Company to meet and try to find a solution, but the British East India Company refused to meet with them.
6. When it was clear that Governor Hutchinson wasn’t going to cooperate, Samuel Adams decided it was time to move forward with the plans to empty the tea into the harbor, and the rest is history.
Today, we talked about the effects of the Boston Tea Party: the Intolerable Acts, which were a series of harsh laws meant to teach the colonists a lesson, and the unification of the colonies around a common goal—they must defend their rights. At the first Continental Congress, where delegates from almost every colony met to discuss what to do next, Patrick Henry said, “All America is thrown into one mass. The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American!” At the end of our conversation about what happened after the Boston Tea Party, a student commented that Patrick Henry’s quote about the colonies coming together was like Barack Obama urging republicans and democrats to work together. The class concluded that good things happen when people put their differences aside and work together (and then erupted into a song about President Obama! Something from JibJab? Who knows, but it was amazing! They never cease to delight.).
