The Boston Tea party is a very misunderstood part in our American history. What most have heard, was that there were a bunch of Americans that dumped British tea into the Boston Harbor. Many obtain the ignorance of the importance of our actions and why we took them. It was on December 16, 1773, when American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians threw 342 barrels of tea, belonging to the British East India Company, from ships into Boston Harbor.
As Europeans developed a taste for tea in the 17th century, rival companies were formed to import tea from the East Indies. In England, Parliament gave the East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea in 1698. When tea became popular in the British colonies, Parliament strived to eliminate competition by passing an act in 1721 that required colonists to import their tea only from Great Britain. The East India Company did not export tea to the colonies. By law, the company was required to sell its tea at auctions in England. British businesses bought this tea and exported it to the colonies, where they resold it to merchants in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.
Until about 1767, the East India Company paid a value tax of approximately 25% on tea that was imported into Great Britain. These high taxes, combined with the fact that the Dutch government did not tax tea imported into Holland, meant that Britons and British Americans could buy smuggled Dutch tea at much cheaper prices.
There were a series of four acts passed by the British Parliament that placed new taxation laws on certain items, these acts were called the Townshend Acts. The Townshend Acts were given this name because of who sponsored them, Charles Townshend. The second act, often called the Townshend duties, and imposed direct taxation, on lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea. It was the second time in the history of the colonies that a tax had been levied directly for the purpose of raising revenue. "The third act established...