The Boston Tea Party took place on the night of December 16, 1773, in Boston, Massachusetts.

It was a
pivotal event leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Here's what happened:

Background: Tensions between the American colonies and Britain had been escalating for years due to
issues such as taxation without representation and British attempts to exert more control over colonial
affairs.

Tea Act: In 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act, which granted the British East India Company
a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies and allowed them to sell their tea directly to the
colonies, bypassing colonial merchants and reducing the price of tea. However, the colonists saw this as
an attempt to undercut local businesses and maintain British control over trade.

Protests: Colonists in several port cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, and New York, protested against
the Tea Act. In Boston, Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow ships carrying the taxed tea to
leave the harbor without unloading their cargo.

The Boston Tea Party: On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of colonists disguised as Mohawk
Native Americans boarded three British ships: the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, which were
docked in Boston Harbor and loaded with tea. They proceeded to dump over 300 chests of tea, worth
thousands of pounds, into the harbor as a protest against the Tea Act and British taxation without
representation.

Aftermath: The British government responded harshly to the Boston Tea Party by passing the Coercive
Acts (known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts) in 1774, which closed Boston Harbor, revoked
Massachusetts' charter, and increased British control over the colony. These acts further fueled colonial
resentment and played a significant role in escalating tensions that eventually led to the outbreak of the
American Revolutionary War in 1775.

The Boston Tea Party symbolized the growing defiance of the American colonists against British authority
and became a rallying cry for independence.