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DIRECTIONS: Read the historical background and view each document. Answer the questions that follow the document on the Answer Sheet.

BOSTON TEA PARTY, 1773

Detail of The Bostonians Paying the Excise (tax) Man (1774), a color engraving by an unknown artist; John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, Providence, RI. The sign on the Liberty Tree is upside down and reads "Stamp Act". The pot has the word "TEA" printed on it.

Historical Background:

The British East India Company was in financial distress, partly as a result of the colonial boycott of English tea. To save the company from ruin, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which allowed the company to ship tea to America without paying the existing heavy duty in England. This allowed the company to sell the tea more cheaply than the colonial importers of English tea as well as the smugglers of foreign tea. This would ruin many American tea merchants.
      In many American ports, the colonist boycotted the tea. It was either sent back to England, or locked up in warehouses and left to rot. In Boston, with the encouragement of The Sons of Liberty, the citizens refused to permit the unloading of three tea ships. During the night of December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place. Bostonians disguised as Indians boarded the ships and dumped 342 chests (worth $75,000) into the harbor.

1. What does “boycott” mean?

2. What event is taking place on the ships in the background?

3.  Why are they doing this?

4. Who is being tarred and feathered?  
   
5. What are they pouring into his mouth?