The Tea Act of 1773

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The Tea Act of 1773
The Tea Act was passed on May 10, 1773 by Parliament. The act granted the British East India Company Tea a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonists. The main reason this passed was to get the East India Company out of bankruptcy, which the company was in due to reduced sales of their tea. The act gave the East India Company two benefits. One was to allow it to market its tea directly to America, using its own agents there. This allowing it to bypass the network of auctions, wholesalers, and colonial merchants through which the tea previously had seen sold. The other benefit was to free the company of the duty on tea that it imported to Britain and then reshipped to America.
“John Hancock organized a boycott of tea provided by the East India Company, which was subject to an import tax, and helped to enforce the boycott by smuggling tea in so that the colonists would not go without their favored beverage.” This is what resulted in the Tea Act. "The trade in tea with China that was the most viable in the 18th century. Tea accounted for more than 60% of the Company’s total trade in the late 1700's. Customs duty on tea was providing 10% of the British government's annual revenues.” The Tea Act being passed was not aimed to make the American colonists angry, but it made many mad. American colonists could buy no tea unless it came from the company. American colonists saw this law as yet another meaning of “taxation without representation” because it meant that they could not buy tea from anyone else without spending a lot more money. There was a bad reaction to the Tea Act.
The Tea Act was during the American Revolution. During this time not just only the Tea Act was a major event leading to the Revoluti...

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...colonies. It effected the American colonists in many ways. A lot of people lost their jobs. The act happened during a rough time. The colonists finally took action, but had to pay for it after all.

Bibliography
Countryman, Edward. The American Revolution. New York: Hill and Wang, 2003.
Hewes, George R.T., “The Boston Tea Party”, Government, Politics, and Protest: Essential Primary Sources. Detroit: Gale, 2006.
“The Tea Act.” The Act of 1773***.Accessed November 18, 2013. http://www.landofthebrave.info/tea-act.htm.

Bibliography
Countryman, Edward. The American Revolution. New York: Hill and Wang, 2003.
Hewes, George R.T., “The Boston Tea Party”, Government, Politics, and Protest: Essential Primary Sources. Detroit: Gale, 2006.
“The Tea Act.” The Act of 1773***.Accessed November 18, 2013. http://www.landofthebrave.info/tea-act.htm

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