Question

The Boston “Tea Party”

In 1773, however, Britain furnished
Adams and his allies with an incendiary issue.
The powerful East India Company, finding
itself in critical financial straits, appealed to
the British government, which granted it a
monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies.
The government also permitted the East
India Company to supply retailers directly,
bypassing colonial wholesalers. By then,
most of the tea consumed in America was
imported illegally, duty-free. By selling its tea
through its own agents at a price well under
the customary one, the East India Company
made smuggling unprofitable and threatened
to eliminate the independent colonial
merchants. Aroused not only by the loss of
the tea trade but also by the monopolistic
practice involved, colonial traders joined the
radicals agitating for independence.
In ports up and down the Atlantic
coast, agents of the East India Company were
forced to resign. New shipments of tea were
either returned to England or warehoused.
In Boston, however, the agents defied the
colonists; with the support of the royal
governor, they made preparations to land
incoming cargoes regardless of opposition.
On the night of December 16, 1773, a band of
men disguised as Mohawk Indians and led by
Samuel Adams boarded three British ships
lying at anchor and dumped their tea cargo
into Boston harbor. Doubting their
countrymen's commitment to principle, they
feared that if the tea were landed, colonists
would actually purchase the tea and pay the
tax.



A crisis now confronted Britain. The
East India Company had carried out a
parliamentary statute. If the destruction of
the tea went unpunished, Parliament would
admit to the world that it had no control over
the colonies. Official opinion in Britain
almost unanimously condemned the Boston
Tea Party as an act of vandalism and
advocated legal measures to bring the
insurgent colonists into line.
1. What organization, in 1773, was granted
a monopoly on all tea imported by the
colonies?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
2. Who, on December 16, 1773, led a band of
men disguised as Mohawk Indians to
dump tea into Boston harbor?
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. George Washington
c. Samuel Adams
d. Thomas Jefferson

3. Official opinion in Britain almost
unanimously condoned the Boston Tea
Party as an act of patriotism and
advocated legal measures to revoke the
British East India Company’s monopoly
on tea.
a. True
b. False


--

Answer 1

1. The organization granted a monopoly on all tea imported by the colonies in 1773 was the **East India Company**.

2. On December 16, 1773, the band of men disguised as Mohawk Indians who dumped tea into Boston harbor was led by **c. Samuel Adams**.

3. Official opinion in Britain almost unanimously condemned the Boston Tea Party as an act of vandalism and advocated legal measures to bring the insurgent colonists into line.
**b. False** (The statement as presented is false; the correct answer should reflect that the official opinion condemned the Boston Tea Party, not condoned it as an act of patriotism.)