The Boston Tea Party

Mohawk Indians "Throw" a Tea Party

Boston Dec 16 1773 (EG) Three 20 ton teacups sailed into the Port of Boston with invitations to a distinctly British High Tea. The invitation was unceremoniously rejected by a group of British Citizens in Massachusetts. On this chilly December evening at Griffins Wharf, a group of "Mohawk Indians" showed up uninvited to "have tea" with the Great Father across the sea. The Patriots of New England rather conspicuously supported the way the "Mohawks" crashed the King's soirée. They were very neighborly, though. They lent the King a very large teapot to brew the East India Co. tea ... Boston Harbor.

King George III might have considered sending the invitation by less impersonal means but he did not feel the need to patronize the organizers of this resistance whom he called "dangerous and ill designing men". The King of Britain and Parliament has chosen to set a tax on tea for two very self-serving reasons. The first is to establish the authority of Parliament to tax the colonies without their consent. Secondarily, the measure supported the Government-subsidized East India Co. (Stock Symbol: EIC) It is effectively a stop-gap effort to help EIC avoid bankruptcy caused by a bureaucratically induced cash drain that threatens to undo the company.

Samuel Adams, de facto leader of the Sons of Liberty, a colonial grass roots political action committee, is having no part of it. He will do anything to prevent the tea from being sold. When these partisans were unable to convince the ship owners or the Royal Governor, Thomas Hutchinson, to send the tea back where it came from, they conspired to dump the offending tea overboard. This evening "disguised" Mohawk Indians with tomahawks, clubs and painted faces descended on Griffins Wharf. These "Indians" moved about very much like the stevedore's they are on their day job. In three hours they dumped the entire 45 tons of tea from the three East India Company ships into the harbor. They were cheered on by hundreds of Boston's sympathetic citizens.

In London, the King is clearly infuriated with his subject's behavior. Three thousand miles away, in his outrage at the vandalism, he and Parliament are now considering new legislation which they are calling the Boston Port Act. It is being reported that it will declare an embargo, close the Port of Boston, and even revoke the Massachusetts Bay Colony Charter. These new laws being considered are already being touted as the "Intolerable Acts" by Great Britain's subjects in New England and, in fact, all of North America. They are to remain in effect until the cost of the tea is reimbursed by the Bay Colony. If Adams and his group have any say, King George will wait for a very long time.

The other twelve colonies have decided, in a show of unity to support their neighbors in the beleaguered colony. They are sending herds of sheep, cattle and pigs overland along with food and clothing to New England. There is also a swelling movement to send the Minute Men companies or even the militia if the authorities decide to use any force to bring the colony into subjection.

The Son's of Liberty are privately saying that King George may wish he had withdrawn his earlier invitation to tea!