U.S. Tax History Review: The Boston Tea Party

We've all heard of the Boston Tea Party and at least have some idea behind the event itself and the eventual outcome. And because we have just passed 2015's tax season, we thought it'd be cool to read about something else other than spreadsheets and 1099's.

The Boston Tea Party was the result of a long series of events involving the French, the British, and the American colonists. The British crown decided that the American colonists were responsible for helping to pay off war debts that were incurred during the French and Indian War.

Taxes were levied on almost every printed good the colonists produced, a result of the infamous Stamp Act. The following year, the British crown instituted the Townshend Duties or Revenue Acts. These taxed almost every transaction of goods and services to a point that even the most successful of businesses suffered greatly.

The American colonists were beginning to resent their overseas lords and began to dissent by way of refusing to use of purchase any of the taxed products. The Townshend Duties or Revenue Acts was eventually repealed lest a small 3 penny fee on tea.

However, it wan not this 3 penny fee that caused the famous party aboard the tea and tea shipping industry.

The British had a hand in the East India Company, a major tea exporter, and passed what came to be know as the Tea Act which effectively monopolized the East India Company. This basically cut out all of the middle men in the regular tea trade. This hurt the local economy and is was what ultimately caused the Boston Tea Party to unfold.

The American colonists began a campaign of harassment and sabotage against East India Company whenever they could. They burned East India Company ships in port and blockaded others to force them to unload their cargo in accordance with British law. It was during one of these blockading instances in Boston harbor an event unfolded that forever changed the course of American history.

A man by the name of Samuel Adams and his crew of patriots donned native American costumes and war paint and descended upon the harbor. Their target? An East India Company tea shipping vessel.

And the rest, as they say, is history.