US History

U.S. History Study Guide

5.12 The Tea Act The Tea Act, passed by Parliament in 1773, would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, and in fact imposed no new taxes. It was designed to prop up the East India Company, which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies, and sold at a bargain price. The direct sale of tea, via British agents, would have undercut the business of local merchants. Colonists in Philadelphia and New York turned the tea ships back to Britain. In Charleston the cargo was left to rot on the docks. In Boston the Royal Governor Hutchinson held the ships in port, where the colonists would not allow them to unload. This situation led to the Boston Tea Party. 5.13 The Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was perpetrated by the Sons of Liberty in Boston , on December 16, 1773. Disguised as Native Americans, they destroyed an entire shipment of tea in response to the Tea Act . They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor , ruining the tea. The British government responded harshly and this episode would result in a chain of events that would turn into the American Revolution. 5.14 The Hutchinson Letters Affair The Hutchinson Letters Affair was named after the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, who wrote to superiors in England to send more troops to Boston in order to stop the anti-British sentiment after the Stamp Acts and Townshend Duties. His correspondence let the British know what was going on in the colonies and they sent troops stop the rebel activity and ease tension in the colony. The plan backfired when open fighting broke out between the Bostonians and British. Benjamin Franklin anonymously received these letters years later and felt Hutchinson traded information for a higher position at the cost of colonists... Franklin anonymously sent the letters to his colleagues in Boston, the letters were then published in the Boston Gazette in 1773. During these times of political turmoil Franklin was living in England and acting on behalf of the colonies, pleading with both sides to be reasonable. The Bostonians were furious and demanded Hutchinson be removed as Royal Governor and petitioned England to hold a council on his removal. By the time the council was to meet, the Boston Tea Party occurred and the British were enraged. The British government demanded to know who leaked Hutchinson's letters and Franklin admitted. In January of 1774, Franklin was publicly ordered to go before the council, where he, not Hutchinson was blamed as the instigator. The council was very crass and attacked Franklin as well as his character. He was humiliated and left the meeting with great purpose. Franklin was one of the last notable men of the colonies that still clung to mending the conflict and being above all, a proud British citizen but after this he became a patriot. It was famously

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