Boston Tea Party Civil Disobedience

The Boston Tea Party can be considered to be the foundation of civil disobedience during the founding of the United States of America. This historical event which laid the foundation for the strength of America, is considered to have been incited by the group Sons of Liberty which were colonists who stood up against the British Empire’s attempts to crush their rights, which led to their motto of “no taxation without representation.” The Boston Tea Party is an act of civil disobedience which occurred during the winter of 1773 in Boston, Massachusetts which was incited by the British Empire’s extreme taxation of the colonies and the lack of representation of the colonies by members of their own choosing in parliament. The event had the intended

outcome of changing parliaments mind and seeing the colonies as an independent nation of some sort, which didn’t occur exactly as the colonists planned but it was an effective form of civil disobedience in terms of inciting the cause for American freedom, but ineffective at convincing the British Empire to relinquish its stranglehold on taxation.
Civil disobedience is a phrase which is used to describe the “…refusal to obey civil laws or decrees… [And]…usually takes the form of passive resistance…” when people feel that they have been wronged ("Civil Disobedience." 1).

Civil disobedience takes a few variant forms, depending on the particular situation and cause, though its basic definition can be obtained through the process of breaking the phrase down to its root words, ‘civil’ which roughly means polite, ‘-obedience’ which roughly equates to being compliant, and then the ‘dis-‘prefix which means the opposite of the following root word which happens to be ‘-obedience.’ These rough definitions can be strung together to form a basic working definition of politely refusing to be compliant, in order to better a cause. Though this is a solid definition for most purposes, a more detailed understanding needs to be attained. “…American author Henry David Thoreau set forth the basic tenets of civil disobedience… [In which]…The individual, Thoreau claimed, is ‘a higher and independent power,’ from which the state obtains its power,” ("Civil Disobedience." 1). Thoreau’s understanding of civil disobedience is that people control the power and if the people feel wronged, then they will take the power away from the state and into their own

hands.
Civil disobedience itself has had few and far between situations where it has been used, and it “…has been used inconsistently…” though it is considered to be a “…distinct form of argument and is important in a democratic society,” (Dimock 83). Civil disobedience is usually considered in more traditional forms to be “…a public, nonviolent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law usually done with the aim of bringing about a change in the law or policies of the government,” (Dimock 83). Civil disobedience can thus be simplified down to a comprehensive, and simplistic definition of a nonviolent protest in a public setting in which laws are broken in a civil manner due to some form of injustice being inflicted on a people by a government or other entity of power. This working definition of civil disobedience will be the key understanding of the events that took place leading up to and following the Boston Tea Party, due to the events non-violent nature.
The Boston Tea Party was a climax of sorts, in response to the previous decade and a half of oppression received from the British Empire in the form of ‘acts’ or taxes in most cases. The first instance occurred in 1764 with the Sugar Act, when parliament wanted to raise money from the colonies for the crown, which levied a tax on any good that was not shipped from a British institution, primarily sugar. The following act was silly and was called the Currency Act, in which the colonists were prohibited from creating, producing, or distributing any form of their own currency and that they must only use the British currencies available. The response to these initial events was with much protest, refusal to use British goods, and shock at their taxation with no representation which would recur for the next decade. (Boston Tea Party Historical Society).
In 1765, the colonists in the melting pot were coming to a boil when parliament decided that they should levy more acts onto the colonists starting with the quartering act, which required colonists to provide food and shelter to British troops when they were in the colonies to the upset of many.

With growing unrest in the colonies due to parliaments sneaky taxes and acts, they decided that they should be more direct and tax colonial goods directly, specifically newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, broadsides, legal documents, dice, and playing cards. The act was known as the Stamp Act for the use of stamps to signify paid taxes or unpaid taxes. Stamps were placed on goods that had been paid for, and was required for sale. (Boston Tea Party Historical Society). “The British government failed to consider fully the logistical difficulties that would arise in putting the stamp duty in place in a remote location,” (Oats 101). At this point in history, the group that would later be responsible for inciting the America revolution and the Boston Tea Party was formed, The Sons of Liberty, a group aimed at maintaining secrecy and control in America. In addition to this group forming, colonists banded together to form a ‘Declaration of Rights and Grievances’ by which colonists claimed that they could not be taxed unless they had proper representation in parliament by which they could properly represent the needs and feelings of their colonies. (Boston Tea Party Historical

Society).
Members of parliament decided to repeal the stamp act in 1766 for various reasons which include but are not limited to the colonists beginning to be in open rebellion of the British Empire, anger at their lack of representation, and certain members of parliament being impressed by their courage. The decision to repeal the act satiated the colonists for a time and they began to use British goods again. As with all bodies of power, they do not easily get off the power-trip wagon and created a new act titled the Declatory Act in which parliament decreed that they could make laws binding to the colonies in all cases related or unrelated to taxation. (Boston Tea Party Historical Society).
Governing the colonies was a very expensive task during a time in which Britain’s economy was rather stagnant in nature, and thus to help cover their expenses parliament levied taxes on the American colonies in 1767, which taxed ordinary goods such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea would be subject. As a retaliation to the British imposement of further taxation without representation, the American colonists decided to discourage the purchase of British imported goods and services, and that it was unconstitutional to be taxed without representation because it denied their basic human liberties. Parliament also suspended the New York Assembly which led to colonial outrage at the threat of their colonial liberties. (Boston Tea Party Historical Society).

The primary issue that led to the Boston Tea Party was the growing financials issues that the East India Company was facing, which inevitably led to the Tea Act of 1773. Europeans have acquired a fondness for tea, which began somewhere around the 17th century, and in England, the East India Company was granted exclusive rights by parliament to the importation of tea. Due to the popularity and high demand for tea, this naturally led to the demand for tea in the colonies, but there was competition and parliament sought to destroy it, and once again gave the East India Company exclusive rights to the import.