Federal Judge Robert Vance is instantly killed by a powerful explosion after opening a package mailed to his house near Birmingham, Alabama. Two days later, a mail bomb killed Robert Robinson, an attorney in Savannah, Georgia, in his office. Two other bomb packages, sent to the Truman declares a state of emergency. On December 16, , the Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, Operation Autumn Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium.
The Battle of the Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Art, Literature, and Film History. Britain eventually repealed the taxes it had imposed on the colonists except the tea tax. In protest, the colonists boycotted tea sold by British East India Company and smuggled in Dutch tea, leaving British East India Company with millions of pounds of surplus tea and facing bankruptcy.
In May , British Parliament passed the Tea Act which allowed British East India Company to sell tea to the colonies duty-free and much cheaper than other tea companies — but still tax the tea when it reached colonial ports. Tea smuggling in the colonies increased, although the cost of the smuggled tea soon surpassed that of tea from British East India Company with the added tea tax.
The Sons of Liberty were a group of colonial merchants and tradesmen founded to protest the Stamp Act and other forms of taxation. By December 16, , Dartmouth had been joined by her sister ships, Beaver and Eleanor ; all three ships loaded with tea from China.
That morning, as thousands of colonists convened at the wharf and its surrounding streets, a meeting was held at the Old South Meeting House where a large group of colonists voted to refuse to pay taxes on the tea or allow the tea to be unloaded, stored, sold or used. Ironically, the ships were built in America and owned by Americans.
Governor Thomas Hutchison refused to allow the ships to return to Britain and ordered the tea tariff be paid and the tea unloaded. The colonists refused, and Hutchison never offered a satisfactory compromise.
That night, a large group of men — many reportedly members of the Sons of Liberty — disguised themselves in Native American garb, boarded the docked ships and threw chests of tea into the water.
While some important colonist leaders such as John Adams were thrilled to learn Boston Harbor was covered in tea leaves, others were not. Benjamin Franklin insisted the British East India Company be reimbursed for the lost tea and even offered to pay for it himself.
No one was hurt, and aside from the destruction of the tea and a padlock, no property was damaged or looted during the Boston Tea Party. Thanks to their Native American costumes, only one of the tea party culprits, Francis Akeley, was arrested and imprisoned. Even after American independence, participants refused to reveal their identities, fearing they could still face civil and criminal charges as well as condemnation from elites for the destruction of private property.
Most participants in the Boston Tea Party were under the age of forty and sixteen of them were teenagers. A second Boston Tea Party took place in March , when around 60 Bostonians boarded the ship Fortune and dumped nearly 30 chests of tea into the harbor. The delegates were divided on how to move forward but the Boston Tea Party had united them in their fervor to gain independence. A Tea Party Timeline: Old South Meeting House. The shipment of British East India Company tea the three ships delivered to Boston consisted of chests of Bohea, 60 chests of Singlo, 15 chests of Congou, 15 chests of Hyson, and 10 chests of Souchong.
The word Tory comes from several Middle Irish words meaning robbers, outlaws or pursued men. Prior to the American Revolution, the term Tory evolved into describing those who upheld the right of the King over Parliament, and during the Revolution took on the form to describe anyone who remained loyal to Britain.
During the American Revolution, it is documented that over twenty thousand Tories took up arms and fought with the British Army against the Patriots. They were branded traitors for remaining loyal to their king and fighting for what they believed in. When American independence was achieved at the close of the American Revolution, many Tories either fled or were kicked out of the newly formed United States and relocated primarily to Britain, Canada, the Bahamas, and Africa where they founded Sierra Leone.
During the American Revolution it is estimated one-third of the population of the Thirteen Colonies were Tories, one-third were Patriots, and one-third remained neutral. According to some modern estimates, the destroyed tea could have brewed 18,, cups of tea!
The destruction of the tea was a very costly blow to the British. Besides the destruction of the tea, historical accounts record no damage was done to any of the three ships, the crew or any other items onboard the ships except for one broken padlock.
Great care was taken by the Sons of Liberty to avoid the destruction of personal property — save for the cargo of British East India Company tea. Nothing was stolen or looted from the ships, not even the tea. One participant tried to steal some tea but was reprimanded and stopped. The Sons of Liberty were very careful about how the action was carried out and made sure nothing besides the tea was damaged. After the destruction of the tea, the participants swept the decks of the ships clean, and anything that was moved was put back in its proper place.
The crews of the ships attested to the fact there had been no damage to any of the ships except for the destruction of their cargoes of tea. No one died during the Boston Tea Party. There was no violence and no confrontation between the Patriots, the Tories and the British soldiers garrisoned in Boston. No members of the crews of the Beaver, Dartmouth, or Eleanor were harmed. This was the first organized act of rebellion against British rule, and the Sons of Liberty were very careful about how the Boston Tea Party was planned and executed.
In fact, only one member of the Sons of Liberty, Francis Akeley, was caught and imprisoned for his participation. He was the only person ever to be arrested for the Boston Tea Party. Boston Harbor was shut down. For weeks after the Boston Tea Party , the 92, pounds of tea dumped into the harbor caused it to smell. The Intolerable Acts outraged and unified the American colonists even more against British rule.
American colonists responded with protests and coordinated resistance by convening the First Continental Congress in September and October of to petition Britain to repeal the Intolerable Acts.
The Boston Tea Party was the first significant act of defiance by American colonists. The implication and impact of the Boston Tea Party was enormous ultimately leading to the sparking of the American Revolution which began in Massachusetts on April 19, George Washington While he was in absolute favor of the revolution, George Washington did not approve of the destruction of the tea.
It was against his beliefs about property ownership. There was a second Boston Tea Party three months later. In March of , 60 men disguised themselves and boarded the Fortune to threw 30 chests of tea overboard. Being a much smaller protest, it did not get the attention of the original. There was only one person injured in the event and they mistakenly thought he was dead.
John Crane was thought to be dead when he was knocked unconscious during the Boston Tea Party. His fellow patriots hid him under a pile of wood shavings in a nearby shop. He regained consciousness a few hours later and was the only person injured during the protest.
Benjamin Franklin offered to pay for the tea that was dumped. Ben Franklin was a rich and generous man and as such, he offered to pay for the tea on the condition that Britain would reopen the harbor. They refused, so they were never compensated. The participants were never punished. There was a strict code of secrecy surrounding the events of the Boston Tea Party and as a result, no one ever identified who the participants were.
One person was named in an anonymous tip, and he was stripped, tarred and feathered. After and since, no one else ever came forward with any information. It was an expensive protest.
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