The Boston Tea Party

2 Pages 548 Words

The Boston Tea Party
The historical incident, “The Boston Tea Party,” can be recalled with two differing viewpoints. The two entities involved, the colonists and the British authorities, each have their own point of view. To the American colonists, the Tea Party was a revolt against what they perceived as unfair taxation and an unfair economic stronghold on tea sales. The British aristocracy saw this event as ungrateful subjects trying to loosen their ties with the ruling authority, Great Britain. Due to the differing involvement that each of these parties experienced during the Boston Tea Party, each of these views has merit.
The excessive price of tea previous to the Boston Tea Party was viewed as an unjust taxation by the colonists. When Great Britain tried to save it’s failing East India Tea Company by “allowing it to hold a monopoly on teas sales”, (Languth 174) the colonists felt forced to show their displeasure of the situation. “The Boston Tea Party both destroyed British private property and challenged British public authority.” (Alden 7) The colonists felt they were being cheated out of rightful profits and were being taxed unfairly. The Tea Party was their way of saying “NO MORE” to Great Britain.
Great Britain, on the other hand, felt that by controlling the distribution of tea, it could be offered to the colonists below the high price that they had been paying for it. Great Britain felt entitled to this monopoly and to the revenue it produced for them, because, after all, the colonies were English property and the colonists were English
subjects. Even though the English mother-land was situated thousands of miles from the American colonies, it was England who relocated the colonists. Therefore, any taxes or profits that could be made from the colonies were a rightful part of the British Empire.
The English granted monopoly of tea sales to the East India Tea Company, and the assessmen...