Unit 1: Foundations Of American Government Project Part 1

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The Boston Tea Party and Underlying Causes

It was 1773 when more than 5000 people gathered in Boston's largest building "Old South Meeting House". Samuel Adams, who was one of the Sons of Liberty organized the Boston Tea Party. American colonials felt that they had to pay taxes to cover the expenses of the Indian and French wars by Britain. There is not a single cause for the Boston Tea Party but a chain of causes. The main reason for the Boston Tea Party was tax payment without the representation of the American Colonials. When compared to views of John Locke’s on the rights of people, the Tea Act is against the rights of people while Thomas Hobbes has opposite views on rights of individuals.

Patriotic colonials to avoid taxes, they stopped drinking tea which was imported from England. Instead, they started using tea was imported from Holland by smuggling because of lower prices and sale of tea to colonies via East Company was not allowed. In December 1773, an American Colonist, having no representation and a tax payer was mad at Britain. He dumped the tea at Griffins Wharf which weighted equivalent to weight 3,600 gold bars. This incident was named as the Boston Tea Party.

Americans believed that Britain was charging them taxes unfairly and Americans were no longer able to buy untaxed tea which was smuggled from England. The Tea Act was passed in 1773 for American colonials by the British government to give monopoly to East India Company which was to bankrupt soon. To entertain the demands of colonials, Britain canceled some of the taxes expect the taxes on tea. This resulted in a boycott of tea sale to East India Company and smuggled tea to the Dutch. Smuggling tea to the Dutch resulted in the EIC losing millions of pounds and consequently, face major bankruptcy.

“It is the natural right that every citizen can live their life, they have the right to property and they have right of freedom” John Locke. These rights cannot be taken from individuals until and unless they agree with their government. The tea act was an imposition of taxes without giving people their representation which is their right. John Adams was influenced by the idea of John Locke. He had great respect for the right to private life and he also supported the Boston Tea Party by considering it as necessary and justified ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"VfJeoHy2","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Nehls)","plainCitation":"(Nehls)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":221,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/NAR8CIYZ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/NAR8CIYZ"],"itemData":{"id":221,"type":"article-journal","title":"The Destruction of Property and the Radical Nature of the Boston Tea Party","page":"33","source":"Zotero","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Nehls","given":"Holly K"}]}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Nehls 33). Thomas Hobbes believed that for security and protection people dedicate their rights to the government. Thomas Hobbes, on the other hand, supported the rule by kings and was not in favor of John Locke’s views on the natural rights of an individual. This thinking defeated the thoughts on democracy and freedom of individuals ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"0G1EVgCk","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Volo)","plainCitation":"(Volo)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":225,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/D68SMTDR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/F0XOCTdk/items/D68SMTDR"],"itemData":{"id":225,"type":"book","title":"The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations of Revolution: The Foundations of Revolution","publisher":"ABC-CLIO","number-of-pages":"286","source":"Google Books","abstract":"The Boston Tea Party has been a source of inspiration to the millions of Americans who currently identify with today's Tea Party Patriots.This fascinating book offers insights into how this historical event prompted the creation of a democratic republic and discusses the resulting influence on modern political views.The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations of Revolution presents the chronology of events that led to America's first political insurgency. The author provides an in-depth analysis of the early grassroots movement of the 18th century to the current Tea Party Patriots, separating the facts from the propaganda, and the politics from the policies. The book includes original excerpts from the pre-revolutionary period, along with helpful maps and contemporary illustrations to lend context to the events.","ISBN":"978-0-313-39875-9","note":"Google-Books-ID: 403f4VrQwvYC","shortTitle":"The Boston Tea Party","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Volo","given":"James M."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012",7,19]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Volo 134).

Tea Act was against individual rights because it was not in support of giving any representation to the people of Americans and Britain was imposing taxes to save East India Company from bankruptcy and it was creating a monopoly of EIC. Social contract theory was in support of the individual's rights and was a reason to act against their governments for not performing their duties. Britain violated the rights of Americans and they were kept as slaves in their own country, but Americans rebelled because of events like the Stamp Act and Boston Tea Party.

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Nehls, Holly K. The Destruction of Property and the Radical Nature of the Boston Tea Party. p. 33.

Volo, James M. The Boston Tea Party: The Foundations of Revolution: The Foundations of Revolution. ABC-CLIO, 2012.