of tea The tax was small but the colonists felt it was unfair It had been passed by the British Parliament But the colonists did not have a say in Parliament The tea tax was the latest in a long string of what the colonists considered unfair British laws Samuel Adams a local politician had arranged the morning's meeting He demanded that the tea be sent back to London He said the colonists should not pay the taxes But the ship couldn't return to London It didn't have a permit from the royal governor Thomas Hutchinson And Hutchinson wouldn't issue a permit unless the tax was paid For more than two weeks the people of Boston met almost daily They had to figure out what to do with the tea It had to be either sent back or landed within 20 days Otherwise customs officials would seize the ship Then the tea would be sold at auction and Samuel Adams was influential in planning the Boston Tea Party
the hated duty paid The colonists had until SECRET IDENTITIES December 17 to act The men who participated in the Boston Tea Party swore to The situation keep their identities secret Many took the secret to their soon became more graves Others only revealed urgent Two more ships their role 50 or more years later To this day no one carrying tea arrived in knows for certain the names Boston The Eleanor of all the men involved One person who likely took arrived on December 3 part was silversmith Paul It was followed by the Revere Another was Thomas Beaver on December 7 Melvill grandfather of author Herman Melville TIME TO ACT On the morning of December 16 an estimated 7 000 people gathered at the Old South Meeting House They talked to Francis Rotch the owner of the Dartmouth They sent Rotch to see Hutchinson They said Rotch should ask for a permit to return the tea to London Hutchinson was in Milton 7 miles 11 3 km away By the time Rotch returned to
The Native American disguises were possibly to show that the colonists wanted to set themselves apart from the British but they didn't have any history of their own to fall back on Boston it was almost 6:00 p.m. The sun was falling He told the gathered masses Hutchinson's answer No The crowd broke into angry shouts Adams said the meeting could do nothing more to save the country This may have been a signal Just then from outside a loud whooping pierced the air People rushed out of the meetinghouse They saw 50 or more men hiding in the shadows Many were disguised as Native Americans Their faces were darkened with soot or charcoal They wore blankets around their shoulders They carried axes hatchets knives and pistols Leaders of the meeting including
