The Boston Tea Party

“Boston had been the ringleader in all the riots, and had at all times shown a desire for seeing the laws of Great Britain attempted in vain in the colony of Massachusetts Bay,” European leader Lord North said as he heard news of what happened at Massachusetts Bay, which later came to be called the Boston Tea Party, an event in which angry colonists threw British tea over the harbor in protest of British rule and their harsh taxes on their goods (Luke 53).
The events before and after the Boston Tea Party, such as the vandalism of British property, the Boston massacre, and the colonists’ rebellious organizations were a major influence to the American Revolution because they were signs of revolt in the colonies, because they angered Britain, and because they united the colonies.
When the British signed the Tea Act onto the colonies, the rebellious organizations, the vandalism of British property, and the Boston Tea Party were signs of uprising in the colonies. Patriots feathered and tarred British officers, and they attacked British officers with insults, rock, eggs, and snowballs (Krull 28, 29 and 31).
After the British signed the Quartering Act, anger filled the colonists: The British were taxing goods without the colonists’ input. “No taxation without representation,” became a common slogan for the colonists (Lukes 10). Stephen Johnson, an angry colonist, said, “Why not tax us for the light of the sun, the air we breathe and the ground we are buried in?” (Lukes 35).
When the Quartering Act came into place, colonists obviously felt deprived of rights (Lukes 35). They were also enraged by the Boston Massacre, a bloody event in which jumpy, British officers killed five colonists (Krull 34).
Some colonists went to extreme measu...

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...re Loyalists, men who were loyal to Britain, but most were Patriots or Radicalists (Lukes 55).
In conclusion, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, and the Sons of Liberty are a key reason the colonists declared war and began the American Revolution. The events caused the American Revolution because they were acts of rebellion, the British reacted angrily to them, and because it unified the colonies.

Works Cited

Kindig, Thomas. “The Sons of Liberty.” Independence Hall Association. 4 July 1995.
On-line. Internet. 26. Jan. 2014. Available http:www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/sons.htm.
Knight, James E. Boston Tea Party: Rebellion in the Colonies. New Jersey: Troll Associates, 1982.
Krull, Kathleen. What Was the Boston Tea Party? New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 2013.
Lukes, Bonnie L. The American Revolution. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1996.