The Boston Tea Party

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question: How can protest change the course of history?

2. List Vocabulary
Share some of the challenging vocabulary words in the article (see below). Encourage students to use context to infer meanings as they read.

• apprentices (p. 19)
• appointed (p. 20)
• duties (p. 20)
• confiscated (p. 20)
• coercive (p. 21)
• delegate (p. 21)
  

3. Engage
Ask: What does the phrase “No taxation without representation” mean? Why did it become a rallying cry for so many colonists?

4. Read and Discuss
Ask students to read the Upfront article about the Boston Tea Party. Review why the article is a secondary source. (It was written by someone who didn’t personally experience or witness the events.) Then pose these critical-thinking questions and ask students to cite text evidence when answering them::

• Why did the British government begin taxing the colonists for imported goods, such as tea? Why did the new taxes anger the colonists, and what did they do in response? (The British government began taxing the Colonies to help pay off the huge debts they incurred during the French and Indian War. The new taxes angered the colonists because they did not have representation within the British government and felt they had no say or control over the taxation. To avoid the taxes, colonists began drinking tea smuggled in by the Dutch and other traders.)

• How did other American ports respond to the news of the Boston Tea Party? How did Parliament respond? (The Boston Tea Party inspired other American port cities to rebel as well. Men at a port in Charleston seized tea from a ship and locked it up so it couldn’t be sold. Ships headed for Philadelphia and New York sailed back to England rather than risk losing their cargoes. In response, Parliament passed acts that came to be known as the Coercive Acts to punish the colonists. They closed Boston Harbor, which devastated local businesses.)

• What were the Coercive Acts and how did they change the relationship between the Colonies? (The Coercive Acts were a series of laws passed by Parliament to punish the American Colonies. In response to the Coercive Acts, the Colonies became more unified. They began to think of themselves as Americans, as opposed to members of different colonies.)

•  According to the timeline, when did the Revolutionary War begin and how long did it last? Through what event was the U.S. recognized by Britain as an independent nation? (The war began on April 19, 1775, and continued until the British surrendered a little more than six years later, on Oct. 19, 1781. The British king recognized the United States as an independent nation when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783.)

5. Use the Primary Source: Project, distribute, or assign in Google Classroom the PDF ‘The Most Magnificent Movement of All,’ which is a diary entry written by John Adams the day after the Boston Tea Party occurred. Discuss what makes the speech a primary source. (It provides firsthand evidence concerning the topic.) Have students read the excerpts and answer the questions below (which appear on the PDF without answers).

• How does John Adams feel about the actions that came to be known as the Boston Tea Party? What words does he use to describe the “Efforts of the Patriots”? (John Adams admires the actions of the patriots. He says their actions had “a Dignity,” “a Majesty,” and “a Sublimity.” He also calls their actions “so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible” that they connote “an Epocha in History.”)

• What does Adams say about Governor Hutchinson and other officials? Whose side does he think they’re on? (Adams says that Governor Hutchinson and other officials have taken “malicious pleasure” in watching the colonists struggle to get the tea back to England. He thinks that Hutchinson sides with the British government.)

• What repercussions does Adams suggest might come in response to the Boston Tea Party? (Adams thinks the British government might force the colonists to “quarter,” or house, British troops . He also says they might annul the colony’s charter, impose more taxes, restrain their trade, or send people to prison.)

• Why does Adams say that dumping the tea was necessary? (Adams says that dumping the tea was necessary because officials refused to send it back to England. He says the “Governor, Admiral and Collector and Controller would not suffer it”—meaning they wouldn’t allow the tea to be shipped back. Adams further claims that allowing the tea to be sold would be the same as handing their freedom, and the freedom of future generations, over to a British Parliament that desired to oppress them, to make them poor, and to exploit their labor.)

• The Upfront article says that the Boston Tea Party “helped ignite a revolution.” How does Adams’s diary entry add to your understanding of why the Boston Tea Party mattered? (Students’ responses may vary, but they may note that Adams’s strong language implies that the colonists felt passionately about their independence and that their relationship with the British government had dramatically broken down. His predictions about the repercussions to the Boston Tea Party were also accurate—Parliament responded with the “Coercive Acts,” which eventually led to war.)

6. Writing Prompt
Have students research the biography of Samuel Adams or John Hancock and write an essay on how their personal backgrounds may have played a role in their organizing of the Boston Tea Party..

7. Quiz
Use the quiz to assess comprehension.

8. Classroom Debate
Was dumping the tea into the water the best course of action?

9. Analyzing Viewpoints 
Display the print The Bostonians in Distress (available at the Library of Congress website), which depicts the Boston Tea Party from the viewpoint of the British. Have students analyze the image and discuss how the interpretation of the same event can change depending on the audience.