How Did The Tea Act Affect The American Revolution

Effects of the Tea Act on The American Revolution
“The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation”. This famous quote by Woodrow Wilson accurately shows how the American Revolution impacted the views of society on its country. When referring to this separation from Britain as a beginning rather than a finish it shows unity and the start of something great. When the American Revolution is discussed there are a plethora of affecting aspects that are thought of as important roles. One of these many factors that changed the American Revolution was the Tea Act of 1773. The Tea Act altered the American Revolution by affecting the Boston Tea Party and the unity in the colonies.
The Tea Act gave one British company the right to control all trade in tea with the colonies. Tea would be shipped to the colonists on this company's ships. It would be sold in the colonies by this company's merchants, while the colonists would still have to pay the tax on tea. This company was the East India Tea Company.The purpose of the Tea Act was not to impose higher taxes on the people but to rather bail out

the floundering East India Company. The British government granted the company a monopoly on the importation and sale of tea in the colonies. They were so partial to this company because they played a huge role in the British economy (Tea Act.). The people did not handle the taxation well and this made them more radical than before. “ The policy ignited a ‘powder keg’ of opposition and resentment among American colonists and was the catalyst of the Boston Tea Party” (The Tea Act | Boston Tea Party Facts | 1773.). On the night of December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston harbor and threw 342 chests of tea overboard. This resulted in the passage of the punitive Coercive Acts, including the Tea Act (Boston Tea Party). Samuel Cooper’s Eyewitness Account of the Boston Tea Party accurately depicts the emotion involved in that night:
No little excitement prevailed among the inhabitants of Boston, on account of the arrival of the ships laden with tea from England. Every effort was made to send these ships back but without success and it was soon evident that the tea would be landed unless some active measures were adopted by the citizens to prevent it. A town meeting was called on the afternoon of December 16, 1773 to devise measures for getting rid of this annoyance. At this meeting, which was held in the Old South Meeting House corner of Main and Milk Street, Jno. Hancock presided. A little before sundown an alarm was created among the assembled citizens by the cry of fire, which was suppose to be given by some of the British officers who had attended the meeting in citizen dress and had given the alarm for the purpose of breaking up the assembly. They had nearly effected this object when the town clerk, Wm. Cooper rose and in a loud voice told the citizens that there was no fire to be apprehended but the fire of the British and begged them to keep their plaices. Immediately after a detach’t of about 20 men disguised as Indians was seen to approach in single file by the west door of the Church. They marched with silent steps down the isle and so passed by the south door brandishing their tommahaws [sic – tomahawks] in that direction. The appearance of these men created some sensation. No one appeared to expect their arrival and the object of their visit seemed wholly inexplicable (The Original Sons of Liberty and the Boston Tea Party).
This quote describes how the Tea Act lead to the Boston Tea Party that drove everyone with such passion.
Another affecting factor of the American Revolution was the unity that was created by the rage over the Tea Act.

At the beginning of the war, everything was in array and no one could agree on anything, disorganization and uncertainty overwhelmed everyone. Organizations that were meant to be unifying factors for the colonists, like the Continental Congress, were little more than debating clubs that had to work for weeks before they could come to a decision. As time went on and the Tea Act was put into place the rage of the people made them grow closer. By the eve of the American Revolution, Parliament’s aggression towards the colonists had drawn a distinction between the colonist’s political, economic, and social ideas and those of the British. Colonists had embraced a new identity that helped fuel their resistance against Britain (American Identity and

Unity).
The American Revolution would have been entirely different if it were not for the Tea Act affecting both the Boston Tea Party and the rage that caused the unity in the colonies. These aspects both altered the war tremendously bringing both emotion and dedication out of those involved. The Tea Act sped up the Boston Tea Party and the feeling of unity that was created, both of which impacted the American Revolution.