Despite the lack of snacks, the tea party was definitely a status symbol that allowed the lady of the house to display all the silver on her elaborate tea tray as she prepared the perfect brew. Even children hosted their own tea parties now and then.
Samuel Adams enjoyed a cup of tea in the morning and at night as much as the other Patriots. That’s part of the reason they were so angry when the Tea Act—a law giving one British company control over all the tea traded in the colonies—was passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773. The East India Company, a British company that sold tea from Asia all over the world, had fallen on hard times and wasn’t making as much money as it used to. Why? One reason is because the company had an oversupply of tea. They had produced too much and were not selling enough. The colonies were drinking cheaper Dutch tea that was smuggled in. By the mid-1700s, nearly three-quarters of the tea consumed in America was smuggled. That took a major toll on the East India Company’s profits.
The situation came to a boil in 1772 when the East India Company was stuck with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. Something had to be done, or the tea would rot away in its warehouse and the company might go out of business.
Members of the British government wanted to help the East India Company because it was a very important part of England’s economy. So Parliament passed the Tea Act. It said the colonists could only buy tea from the East India Company.
When the colonists learned of the Tea Act, in the fall of 1773, they were furious. Although this wasn’t a tax, it was yet another instance of England telling the colonists what they could and couldn’t do. And most colonists were sick and tired of Britain’s costly rules. They wanted the freedom to make their own decisions.
In cities up and down the coast, including Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, protesters urged tea merchants to stop trading with the East India Company. When East India tea showed up in stores, the protesters boycotted them. A women’s organization, the Daughters of Liberty, started making alternative “Liberty Tea” out of herbs and flowers such as rose hips. The Daughters of Liberty also participated in the protests and riots started by the Sons of Liberty. Additionally, when there was a shortage of fabric, the Daughters of Liberty organized “spinning bees,” where groups of women transformed the lonely chore of spinning wool into a fun group activity. On one occasion, nearly one hundred Daughters of Liberty gathered with their wheels in a Newport, Rhode Island, meetinghouse, where they spent the day spinning 170 skeins of yarn that could be made into fabric.
Meanwhile, the Sons of Liberty continued to organize and plot. In Boston, a chapter of the organization, led by Samuel Adams, met daily to discuss what they should do about the situation. Yet no matter how angry the Patriots grew, King George and Parliament refused to repeal or take back the Tea Act.
In September 1773, seven British ships loaded with 2,000 wooden chests containing 600,000 pounds of tea set sail for the colonies.
News of the ships loaded with tea and headed their way enraged Boston’s residents. A mob took to the streets and made for the home of Richard Clarke, one of the East India Company’s local merchants. When they reached his house, they started breaking windows. Clarke and his family, hiding inside, were terrified. The protesters didn’t stop their rioting until someone in the house fired a gun into the crowd.
Such intimidating tactics by protesters were successful in New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. In those cities, all the agents for the East India Company quit by November. Protesters sent letters to East India Company agents in Boston ordering them to quit their jobs, too. “Fail not at your own peril,” the letters warned. But Boston agents continued to work for the tea company. This was partly because Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts, lived in Boston and remained loyal to Britain, and so the agents—who included two of Hutchinson’s sons—felt protected.
Weeks passed. The autumnal New England air grew colder, and the standoff between the Patriots and Loyalists of Boston grew more intense. Repeated messages were sent to Governor Hutchinson, demanding that he instruct the seven ships to turn around rather than docking in Boston. But Hutchinson refused to act.
More meetings were held, more protests carried out. But no agreements were reached. Finally, on November 28, 1773, one of the ships, the Dartmouth, arrived in Boston Harbor. It carried 144 chests of “that worst of plagues, the detested TEA, shipped for this Port by the East-Indian Company,” announced a handbill that was posted all over Boston to stir up the colonists’ anger.
For Patriots and Loyalists alike, the huge cargo vessel docked in Boston was too big to be ignored. The ship was a constant reminder of everything they were fighting over. The tension between British rule and Colonial liberty, heating up for years, was about to reaching a boiling point.
Now there are two ships in Boston Harbor laden with tea! I saw them, looming and gloomy, by the wharf this morning, when Aunt Charlotte and I went shopping to buy a special gift for Mother. “Oh, please may we go in this shop?” I asked Aunt Charlotte. “Look at the lovely china bowl in the window.”
Aunt Charlotte hesitated but followed me inside.
“Charlotte Merriman!” said the shopkeeper. “I haven’t seen you in many a long while. You’re one of the Daughters of Liberty, who spin their own wool and make their own fabric and clothing
