The Boston Tea Party was organized and carried out by a group of Patriots led by Samuel Adams known as the Sons of Liberty. The British tea dumped into Boston Harbor on the night of December 16 was worth more than $700,000 in today's currency.

Who organized the Boston Tea Party?

In Boston Harbor, a group of <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/massachusetts" dir="ltr">Massachusetts</a> colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor.The midnight raid, popularly known as the “<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-tea-party" dir="ltr">Boston Tea Party</a>,” was in protest of the British Parliament’s <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/tea-act" dir="ltr">Tea Act</a> of 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/east-india-company-england-trade" dir="ltr">East India Company</a> to undercut even tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as another example of taxation tyranny.When three tea ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor, the colonists demanded that the tea be returned to England. After Massachusetts Governor <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/thomas-hutchinson" dir="ltr">Thomas Hutchinson</a> refused, Patriot leader <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/samuel-adams" dir="ltr">Samuel Adams</a> organized the “tea party” with about 60 members of the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/sons-of-liberty-members-causes" dir="ltr">Sons of Liberty</a>, his underground resistance group. The British tea dumped in Boston Harbor on the night of December 16 was valued at some $18,000.Parliament, outraged by the blatant destruction of British property, enacted the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, in 1774. The Coercive Acts closed Boston to merchant shipping, established formal British military rule in Massachusetts, made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in America, and required colonists to quarter British troops. The colonists subsequently called the first Continental Congress to consider a united American resistance to the British.<figure><picture class="is-waiting-to-load"><source type="image/webp" sizes="(min-width: 1240px) 700px, (min-width: 675px) 620px, calc(100vw - 40px)" data-srcset="https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_380/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.webp 380w, https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.webp 620w, https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.webp 700w" srcset="https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_380/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.webp 380w, https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.webp 620w, https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.webp 700w"><source sizes="(min-width: 1240px) 700px, (min-width: 675px) 620px, calc(100vw - 40px)" data-srcset="https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_380/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.jpg 380w, https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.jpg 620w, https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.jpg 700w" srcset="https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_380/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.jpg 380w, https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.jpg 620w, https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.jpg 700w"><img alt="HISTORY Vault" src="https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700/MTY4MjgxOTc3NDUwMDEzODYx/editorial-promo-700x200-svod-hvault-topics-american-revolution.jpg" height="200" width="700" srcset="data:image/gif;base64, https://www.history.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"></picture></figure>

In Boston, a group of colonists board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor in protest of the Tea Act of 1773.

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In Boston Harbor, a group of <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/massachusetts">Massachusetts </a>colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

The midnight raid, popularly known as the “<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-tea-party">Boston Tea Party </a>,” was in protest of the British Parliament’s <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/tea-act">Tea Act </a>of 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/east-india-company-england-trade">East India Company </a>to undercut even tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as another example of taxation tyranny.

When three tea ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor, the colonists demanded that the tea be returned to England. After Massachusetts Governor <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/thomas-hutchinson">Thomas Hutchinson </a>refused, Patriot leader <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/samuel-adams">Samuel Adams </a>organized the “tea party” with about 60 members of the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/sons-of-liberty-members-causes">Sons of Liberty </a>, his underground resistance group. The British tea dumped in Boston Harbor on the night of December 16 was valued at some $18,000.

Parliament, outraged by the blatant destruction of British property, enacted the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, in 1774. The Coercive Acts closed Boston to merchant shipping, established formal British military rule in Massachusetts, made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in America, and required colonists to quarter British troops. The colonists subsequently called the first Continental Congress to consider a united American resistance to the British.

The Boston Tea Party

Who organized the Boston Tea Party?

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