The British government repealed most of the Townshend Acts in April 1770, but the tax on tea remained. The problem for Britain was that colonists were not buying the English tea because of a boycott and Britain needed to sell its tea! Instead of buying tea from Britain, the colonists smuggled tea in from Dutch companies.
In 1773, Britain passed the Tea Act. Under this new law, the British East India Company could sell tea directly to the colonies without first going through colonial merchants and stores. The new law also stated that the company did not have to pay any taxes either.
This made the price of the British East India Company's tea so low that colonial merchants and stores could no longer compete with the British East India Company's super low tea prices. Their tea was now the cheapest on the market, and they held a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies. A monopoly is the exclusive right to sell or trade a a particular product or service. The Tea Act put a lot of local stores out of business while Britain continued to take taxes from Tea sales.
Many colonists did not like Britain's new tea law. They believed that Britain was trying to sneak in a tax by tempting the colonists with cheap tea.
The colonists were still angry that Britain taxed them, yet allowed them no representation in British government. Protests swiftly followed.
On the evening of December 16, 1773, colonists who were dressed as American Indians dumped hundreds of chests of British tea from three ships into the Boston Harbor. This event is known as the Boston Tea Party. It caused a chain reaction around the colonies. Smaller tea parties were held in other colonies such as Maryland and South Carolina.
Britain responded with punishment. British Parliament passed the "Coercive Acts," also known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies. This series of laws had three major effects:
Britain closed the port of Boston until the colonies paid for the dumped tea.
Britain banned town meetings and placed a military governor in control of Massachusetts.
Britain created a new Quartering Act, forcing colonists to house British troops.
Colonists viewed these laws as unreasonable and as an attack on their rights. The colonists responded by creating the first Continental Congress. The Continental Congress was a group of representatives from each of the colonies that met together to make important decisions for the colonies as a group. John Hancock, the richest man in Boston, became the leader of the Congress. This meeting of colonial leaders set out to determine what united message they would send to Great Britain, together.