Find out EVERYTHING about the tea riot

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At certain moments in history, a state or a people reaches an extreme situation, to a place where a series of events has led them, and at that moment an action causes a spark that blows up the situation, changing history forever. In the case of the creation of the United States, there are several of these moments, but the most famous is the tea riot. To know this spark that started the American Revolution, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we must talk about a tea riot summary.

Index

1. Background and causes of the tea riot
2. The development of the tea riot
3. Aftermath of the tea riot

To begin with this summary of the tea riot we must know the causes of this war. Between 1756 and 1763 the Seven Years War, being a tough confrontation between France and UK for the control of the American and Indian colonies. The victory went to the British, who kept their colonies and even increased their possessions, but the costs of the war were enormous for the English. In those years the economy of the United Kingdom was based largely on its colonies, and being the Thirteen Colonies their economically strongest possessions were the first to receive the increase in taxes.

The Thirteen colonies they were a series of independent UK colonies, although their proximity had created a kind of link between them. The proximity of the conflict during the Seven Years' War had made the Thirteen Colonies actively participate in the war, hoping for some kind of benefit from their metropolis. After the war they not only saw that they did not receive any reward, but also that a large part of their taxes increased. The colonies had been in a situation of discomfort with the British crown for years, and this only increased this situation.

The new taxes were of many kinds, but they were directed in part to the most important products for the colonists, such as tea, sugar or paper. The most important of these was tea, which allowed the East India Company sell tea without paying the British tariff, paying the colonist who was much less. The colonists did not agree that this company was so benefited, and they caused a series of riots in different cities such as New York, Philadelphia and especially Boston.

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The December 16, 1773 the so-called tea riot took place in Boston, a small event that had a series of consequences incredible for the colonies, something that not even the people who started the coup would have warned.

That same day a great assembly was taking place in Boston, which was happening throughout the colonies, as a mechanism of revolt and criticism of the taxes of the British. The Boston convention was the largest of all that had been held, with an estimated around 8000 people attended, of which about 100 escaped from the assembly to the dock.

These 100 people were members of the so-called Sons of Liberty, a group of American settlers who were against the British measure. The group disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians, one of the native tribes of the United States, and went to the dock to await the arrival of the shipment of tea.

The Sons of Liberty attack was swift and left no casualties, the settlers were not interested in attacking the crew, but the cargo of tea they carried with them. In a few hours the entire shipment of tea was thrown into the sea, and the colonists left the place without leaving more damage.

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To conclude this lesson on the summary of the tea riot we must talk about the important consequences that brought the mutiny, many more than the settlers themselves hoped to achieve with this action.

The event was criticized by politicians in both the colonies and the United Kingdom, even receiving criticism from people who later would be vital to the United States independenceas was Benjamin Franklin. The retaliation of the English was not long in coming, blocking the port of Boston and creating a series of intolerable laws, with great deprivation of freedom for the settlers.

All this made the colonists make a greater number of protest actionsThe biggest example being the burning of the Peggy Stewart ship. The protests were no longer only in the large colonial cities, but they began to happen in all the cities of the colonies, regardless of their size. The English maintained their intolerable laws, also increasing the level of military force located in the different cities, which increasingly increased the discomfort of the settlers.

This situation eventually caused the United States to begin War of Independence, a war between the colonies and the United Kingdom, in which some European states aided the settlers, which would end with the colonial victory over the English and the formation of the United States as the first state liberal. The independence of the United States was important for the liberal revolutions that would reach Europe and America in later decades.

Today the tea riot is considered to be the breaking point in the situation, and therefore the main cause of the United States gaining independence from the English.

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Jenkins, P. (2012). Brief history of the United States. Madrid: Alliance.