American Minute for December 16th; The Boston Tea Party

Bill Federer writes:

The British passed taxes on the American colonies, stifling the economy:

1764 Sugar Act-taxing sugar, coffee, wine;

1765 Stamp Act-taxing newspapers, contracts, letters, playing cards and all printed materials; and the

1767 Townshend Acts-taxing glass, paints, paper.

Beginning in 1768, British troops quartered in American homes.

When citizens gathered in protest, March 5, 1770, British troops fired into crowd, killing five, in what was called “the Boston Massacre.”

Just three years later, in 1773, the British passed yet another tax, the “Tea Act.”

While American merchants paid taxes, British allowed the East India Tea Company to sell a half million pounds of tea in the Colonies with no taxes, giving them a monopoly by underselling American merchants.

The citizens of Boston had enough, and on DECEMBER 16, 1773, led by Samuel Adams, a band of patriots called Sons of Liberty, disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians, left the South Meeting House toward Griffin’s Wharf, boarded the ships Dartmouth, Eleanor and Beaver, and threw 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

This was called the Boston Tea Party.

The men of Marlborough, Massachusetts, declared:

“Death is more eligible than slavery. A free-born people are not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny, but may make use of such power as God has given them to recover and support their liberties…

We implore the Ruler above the skies that He would bare His arm…and let Israel go.”

via American Minute for December 16th.