Explain the following statement with reasons: The incident known as ‘Boston Tea Party’ happened during the American War of independence.

Answer:

• England imposed taxes such as the Stamp Act and Townshend duties on the 13 American colonies, which had no representatives in the British Parliament. The colonists protested: ‘No taxation without representation’.
• By the Tea Act of 1773 England gave the East India Company a monopoly of selling tea in the colonies, which hurt local merchants.
• On 16 December 1773 colonists dressed as Native Americans boarded the Company's ships in Boston harbour and threw the chests of tea into the sea. This is known as the Boston Tea Party.
• England passed harsh laws to punish Massachusetts, and the conflict grew into the American War of Independence (1775–83).