Boston Tea Party Myths

On December 16, 1773, several men disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded three ships belonging to the East India Company and performed one of the most iconic acts in American history—the Boston Tea Party. The disguised men dumped 340 chests of chests into harbor causing the East India Company to lose nearly 10,000£ of tea. Today, the Boston Tea Party is seen in good light by the majority of Americans. While the Boston Tea Party was a true revolutionary act, today’s understanding of the Boston Tea Party is woven with three myths regarding the reason behind the act and the effects of it. The first myth behind the Boston Tea Party is that it was about higher taxes. In reality, the motivation was the tax break and that patriots had no say in the decision. In 1600, the East India Company was granted a royal charter to have a monopoly in Asia and China. The Company prospered for 172 years until it suffered from banking schemes throughout Europe. Its stock dropped tremendously. The East India Company and the Parliament had to now figure out how to get themselves out …show more content…
The tea tax barely impacted American commoners. The symbolic significance of the tea was the issue. The British left the tea tax left from the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 to convey the message to Americans that the British still has power over America and they had the right to tax them. In response to this symbolic tax, propaganda arose. The aim of the propaganda was to give Americans the idea that drinking tea from the East India Company was sinful and a “slow poison” according Boston’s Dr. Thomas Young. One cartoon depicted barefoot Chinese stomping on the tea and infesting it with fleas. A very obscene cartoon depicted British pouring tea down an exposed Lady Liberty while peeping under her dress. Propaganda like this increased hostility to the Tea Act. However, the Boston Tea Party didn’t bring America together at