From the Quarterly
Winter 2023 Quarterly - "Boston Harbor a teapot this night!" The Tea Party that Ignited a Revolution
11/06/2023
By the time the French and Indian war ended in America in 1763, the British Crown had amassed a huge debt. They reasoned that the American colonies should contribute towards payment of that debt as the war was fought on and for their land. A series of taxes were issued on a number of commodities the colonists used in daily life — molasses, wine, fabric, paper for printing, glass, lead, paint and tea. Over time, after boycotts from the colonies and protests from merchants in England over those boycotts, all of the taxes were repealed. Except for the 3-pence per pound tax on tea. On one fateful night in Boston, that tax lit the flame of revolution and started a long, tumultuous journey that ended in the creation of a new, independent nation.