16 DECEMBER 1773 BOSTON REBELS DUMP TEA INTO THE SEA
Weeks after the arrival of the tea ship in Boston, Massachusetts, tensions between Britain and its American colonies are at an all-time low. Protesters against the Townshend Duties, imposed from London to fund the colonies, demand the ship vacate the harbour without paying the taxes due on its cargo. An edgy atmosphere engulfs Boston, and on 16 December, and two other ships, before dumping hundreds of tea chests into the harbour in an act of protest. The future second president of the US, John Adams, notes, “It must have so important consequences, and so lasting, that I can't but consider it as an epocha in history.”
