Left image
The tarring and feathering of Boston Commissioner of Customs John Malcolm
Credit: Johnston, David Claypoole, Lithographer. The Bostonians paying the excise-man or tarring & feathering / copied on stone by D. C. Johnston from a print published in London. United States Boston Massachusetts, 1830. Boston: Pendleton. Photograph. https://ww
Right image
Destruction of the Tea in Boston Harbor, December 16, 1773.
Credit: N. Currier. Destruction of tea at Boston Harbor. , 1846. [New York: N. Currier] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/91795889/.
More than taxes and more than tea!
The destruction of East India Company tea in December of 1773 by a Boston mob was a catalyst that brought about dramatic escalation in the political crisis between Great Britain and the North American colonies, particularly Massachusetts Bay. Between December 2023 and May 31, 2024 Minute Man National Historical Park will be conducting digital programs and events about the period of turmoil that led to the American Revolution.
Historical Context:
The Colonial period in Northeastern America was filled with intense conflict both internally and abroad. At the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1764, the territorial claims of the British Empire nearly doubled in size and brought additional problems to American shores. For the people of Massachusetts, the perception of unfair treatment by British officials strained their relationship with the British Government. In 1768 a series of unpopular political acts brought about debate over Parliament’s legislative authority in Colonial America and produced widespread protest involving a diverse demographic of American peoples. These protests provided a unique opportunity for many peoples typically barred from participation in governance to challenge how their society worked.
In 1770, the Boston massacre ignited intense scrutiny of the British Regular Army on American shores. Amid fears of further unrest, British officials removed government soldiers from Boston and walked back many of their unpopular actions, except for a tax on imported tea. Tensions over the tea flared again in 1773, when Parliament granted the struggling East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in North America and allowed it to sell tea directly to its own agents. The Tea Act intended to make East India Tea cheaper than smuggled Dutch tea, increase sales and help the government collect a tax on the tea. For many Americans, the idea of a failing corporation receiving a bailout from a government that did not grant colonists any say in the matter represented yet another overstep by British Parliament.
In November 1773, a crisis ensued as East India Company ships, carrying the taxed tea, arrived in colonial ports. In New York and Philadelphia, the ships were turned away; while in Charleston SC, the tea was left to rot on the wharf. In Boston, incensed locals refused the tea being unloaded while Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused the ships to leave. A tense standoff and public debate ensured but no compromise was reached. On the night of December 16, 1773, dozens of disguised men, some as Indigenous Americans, boarded the three East India Company ships and dumped 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.
Following the destruction of the tea, the Boston Committee of Correspondence reached out to towns in the Massachusetts countryside asking for their opinions of the Tea Act and whether they supported Boston’s efforts to resist. Sentiments over the events in Boston were torn. At a town meeting held in Concord on January 10, 1774 the citizens resolved not to consume tea in their homes and to hold those who should violate the ban to be “unfriendly and inimical” to the liberties of the country. The town of Marshfield, on the other hand, declared their displeasure with the “illegal Proceedings in the Town of Boston in the Detention and Destruction of the Teas belonging to the East-India Company, which we apprehend will effect our Properties if not our Liberties…” As the months went by, the people of Massachusetts waited nervously for Parliament’s response.
On May 13, 1774, a new Royal Governor, General Thomas Gage, arrived in Boston with several regiments of regular soldiers and news of the Boston Port Bill; passed by Parliament to take effect on June 1st, 1774. The bill employed the Royal Navy to blockade the port of Boston until the destroyed tea was paid for. In the following weeks more news arrived of other “coercive” measures aimed at bringing the rebels in Massachusetts under Parliament’s control.
Allison, Robert J.. The Boston Massacre. Beverly, Ma: Commonwealth Editions, 2006.
Archer, Richard. As If an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Gross, Robert A.. The Minutemen and Their World (Revised and Expanded Edition). New York: Picador, 2022.
Norton, Mary Beth. 1774: The Long Year of Revolution. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2021.
Norton, Mary Beth. Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800: with a New Preface. London: Cornell University Press, 1996.
Zabin, Serena R.. The Boston Massacre: A Family History. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020.
Zobel, Hiller B.. The Boston Massacre. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996.
Events & Programs
Other Events and Programs
Follow the links below for other special events and programs at Minute Man National Historical Park in 2024.
Minute Man NHP hosts many special events throughout the spring, summer and fall. Check out what is going on here!
Learn More!
Follow the links below to learn more about April 19, 1775, the events that led to the American Revolution, and how to visit Minute Man National Historical Park
