The Boston Tea Party was one of the most effective pieces of political theater ever staged. John Adams, no fan of mob action, wrote of the dumping of the tea: "There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire."
About 50 members of the political organization, The Sons of Liberty, boarded 3 ships in Boston Harbor. Some were dressed, not very convincingly, as Mohawk Indians. In a very orderly and quiet fashion, they plunked [sterling]9,659 worth of Darjeeling into the sea.
The Boston Tea Party was a protest of British tax policies. It came in the midst of a boycott of English tea during which the East India Company, which owned the tea, had seen its profits plummet in the wake of a boycott of tea in the colonies. Consumption in the colonies had fallen from 900,000 lbs. in 1769 to 237,000 lbs. just 3 years later.
The tea was shipped by an exporter in London, which is still in existence and sells a tea called "Boston Harbour."
EDENTON LADIES TEA PARTY Many women took the lead in the boycott of English goods. A group in North Carolina were lampooned by a British cartoonist as the Edenton Ladies Tea Party when they dared to sign a pledge to support colonial resistance to British measures, including a continued boycott of tea.
This was one of the earliest organized efforts on the part of women to influence public policy. In the 18th century, politics was thought to be an improper sphere for women, but the American Revolution nudged this dictate toward liberalization. The first nationwide women's organization The Ladies Association was organized during the war in Philadelphia by Esther de Berdt Reed. It raised money for Washington's army and was known, somewhat derisively, as "Washington's Sewing Circle."
