Tea for men: the Boston Tea Party

Tea for men used to mean tea with a brawl in the eighteenth century. Originally, men were thought to be tough and violent by default, who like a good fight. Nowadays we have learned that this is not always the case, but in earlier days there were certain events that would have proven us differently. The Boston Tea Party proved to be one of the most important events in the American Revolution. It began with the Sugar Act, Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts, imposing additional taxes on the British colonies. There is a good reason why the colonists opposed this decision.

No taxation without representation

The inhabitants of the colonies furiously stated they wouldn’t allow “taxation without representation” as the colonies were not represented in the Parliament of Westminster. John Hancock, one of the advocates of this statement, was accused at some point of smuggling, with his sloop being confiscated at some point. In a response to this, Hancock organized a boycott of imported tea from China that was being sold by the East India Company. The Tea Act made it possible for this company to sell tea in the colonies without having to pay money for importing it, thus enabling them to sell tea at a lower price than smugglers. 

The climax

On December 16th, 1773, the so-called Sons of Liberty stormed the Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, dressed as Mohawk Indians. There were at the time three ships docked. The Sons of Liberty boarded the ships at night and started destroying the cargo – primarily crates of tea. As mentioned earlier, this contributed to the outbreak of the American Revolution. There was criticism from both Britain and the colonists (Benjamin Franklin later even stated that the damage had to be reimbursed and even offered to pay for this using his personal money. The port in Boston was eventually closed down as a result of this incident. It appears men do like a conflict served with their tea.