There were many events that led to the American Revolution and the independence of our country. The establishment of many taxes upon the colonists such as the Stamp Tax, the Townsend Act (which taxed lead, paint, paper, glass and tea) caused great resentment to the colonists. The term "taxation without representation" was a sentiment felt by most colonists. Because of this resentment many events occurred. One such event was the Boston Tea Party in 1773. .
The British Parliament passed the Tea Act which granted a monopoly of the tea trade in the Americas to the East India Tea Company. The East India Tea Company was doing poorly because Americans would not buy tea since the Sons of Liberty (which was a group of politically prominent colonists) had organized a boycott of tea. The citizens of Boston requested that the Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, send three ships of tea from the East India Tea Company away from the harbor. However, the Governor ordered the ships unloaded or they would not be permitted to leave the harbor. On the night of December 16th Sam Adams, a very prominent politician in Massachusetts at that time, gave a speech to thousands of people from Boston and the surrounding farm areas. He rallied the citizens and denounced the governor's order to unload the tea. .
Later that night, approximately 50 individuals disguised themselves as Indians. They wrapped themselves in blankets and painted their faces in order to disguise their identities. Among the group was Sam Adams and Paul Revere. The group headed to the harbor, where the three ships were docked, and boarded the ships. They then proceeded to split apart the chests of tea leaves and dump the leaves into Boston Harbor. .
A large crowd had gathered on the docks and stood quietly watching the activities. Just a few hundred yards away from the ships were the ships from the British Navy. Most of the crowd expected that there would be gunfire, but there was no gunfire.
