Students will identify the main reasons for and the immediate consequences of the Boston Tea Party by summarizing the text visually.
Essential Question:
Is it ever okay to break or damage someone's property or a student's belongings if you don't like what they said or did?
Focus Vocabulary: Pick one as your favorite!
Tea Act - A specific law passed by the British that taxed tea.
Patriot - A colonist who wanted America to be independent from Britain.
Intolerable Acts - Very harsh laws passed by the British to punish the colonists.
Boiling Point - The moment when anger or tension becomes so high that action or violence begins.
Passport Pages 180 - 183: Analyzing the Boston Tea Party - Text by Greg Riza
Boiling Point
1- In the end, the passing of the Tea Act was the event that steered the colonies down the inevitable course to revolution. According to the Tea Act, the tax on tea needed to be collected within twenty days of the ships arriving at port.
2- Patriot Samuel Adams kept colonial anger high by staging frequent speeches at a nearby meetinghouse. At times, more than 5,000 colonists crowded into the port area to join the protest.
3- The Boston Tea Party
Samuel Adams knew this was the time for action. On his signal, about 150 members of the Sons of Liberty, dressed as Mohawk Indians, left the meetinghouse.
4- Quietly and determinedly, they marched to the docks two by two. They boarded the three ships while the citizens of Boston watched silently from the piers.
5- For the next three hours, the men broke open 342 chests with hatchets and threw the tea into Boston Harbor.
6- The Sons of Liberty members removed their shoes and shook them over the water to make sure they did not have any evidence on them when they left the ship.
The colonists marched off the ship just as they had marched onto it, their “party” having ended.
7- The Intolerable Acts
To punish the citizens of Boston they passed the Intolerable Acts or Coercive Acts.
8- The Boston Port Act closed the port of Boston until the tea the Patriots had dumped into the harbor was paid for.
In your Notebook, restate and answer the following questions:
1- What was the event that set the colonies on the course toward revolution?
2- Who kept colonial anger high by giving frequent speeches?
3- Who signaled the members of the Sons of Liberty to begin the action?
4- What did the citizens of Boston do while the Sons of Liberty boarded the ships?
5- How many chests of tea were thrown into the harbor?
6- Why did the Sons of Liberty members remove their shoes and shake them over the water?
7- What two names did the British give to the laws passed to punish Boston?
8- What action did the Boston Port Act take against the city?
or
Students will read the full text, focusing on the three main sections: "Boiling Point," "The Boston Tea Party," and "The Intolerable Acts."
For each of these three sections, they must draw a simple visual summary that illustrates the most important event or concept from that part of the reading.
The drawings should be simple, clear, and communicate the main idea without requiring many words.
Video Analyses
Take notes while watching this video on the Boston Tea Party