Extract from Boston Port Act, 1774 (14 George III, c19) Catalogue ref: C65/56
The Coercive Acts, which became known as the Intolerable Acts to the colonists, were passed in 1774. According to the Boston Port Act, the British Parliament closed the port of Boston until the colonists compensated the East India Company for the tea destroyed at the Boston Tea Party. These also included the Massachusetts Government Act which replaced elected local government in the colony of Massachusetts with direct rule by British Crown. The powers of the military governor, Thomas Gage were also increased. British troops could now be quartered in any occupied dwelling.
Invoice, dated February 1774 from the East India Company for the destroyed tea from the Boston Tea Party, Catalogue ref: CO 5/247 pp.185-187.
Extracts from a document requesting legal advice sent to the Attorney and Solicitor General from William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, February 1774, Catalogue Ref: CO 5/160
The document included a narrative of events and questions concerning the punishment of those involved in the Boston Tea Party. The document recorded that ‘advice [was] received from Boston in letters from Governor Hutchinson, Admiral Montague and the Commandant of the King’s troops at Castle William and the information taken here of Captain Scott, lately arrived from thence, contain the following facts…
Extracts from a document requesting legal advice sent to the Attorney and Solicitor General from William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, February 1774, Catalogue Ref: CO 5/160
The document included a narrative of events and questions concerning the punishment of those involved in the Boston Tea Party. The document recorded that ‘advice [was] received from Boston in letters from Governor Hutchinson, Admiral Montague and the Commandant of the King’s troops at Castle William and the information taken here of Captain Scott, lately arrived from thence, contain the following facts…’
Extracts from a document requesting legal advice sent to the Attorney and Solicitor General from William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, February 1774. Catalogue Ref: CO 5/160
The document included a narrative of events and questions concerning the punishment of those involved in the Boston Tea Party. The document recorded that ‘advice [was] received from Boston in letters from Governor Hutchinson, Admiral Montague and the Commandant of the King’s troops at Castle William and the information taken here of Captain Scott, lately arrived from thence, contain the following facts…’
Custom house: the office at a port or frontier where customs duty is collected.
Extracts from a document requesting legal advice sent to the Attorney and Solicitor General from William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, February 1774, Catalogue Ref: CO 5/160
The document included a narrative of events and questions concerning the punishment of those involved in the Boston Tea Party. The document recorded that ‘advice [was] received from Boston in letters from Governor Hutchinson, Admiral Montague and the Commandant of the King’s troops at Castle William and the information taken here of Captain Scott, lately arrived from thence, contain the following facts…’
Extract from ‘Massachusetts and Boston Weekly’ newspaper, 23 December 1773, Catalogue ref: CO 5/91
This provides an American account of the Boston Tea Party.
Earliest British account of the Boston Tea Party, 17 December 1773. Catalogue ref: WO 40/1
This letter was written by Lieutenant Colonel, Alexander Leslie of the 64th Regiment of Foot to Lord Viscount Barrington, the Secretary at War. Leslie was writing from his barracks at Castle William on an island in Boston Harbour on the day after the Boston Tea Party.
Extract from the Tea Act was passed by the British parliament in May 1773 to help the East India Company which faced financial difficulties due to unsold tea. It gave the company a monopoly on tea trade with the American colonies . Catalogue ref: C65/942, (Geo III, c 44)
The Act meant that the East India Company could sell their tea directly to the colonies. It also gave the company the monopoly and so was able control all aspects of the tea trade and could undercut local traders in the colonies and elsewhere. The Tea Act freed the East India Company from paying export tax and was given a ‘drawback’ or refund on duties owed on surplus tea supplies. It followed the earlier sources of colonial grievance: 1765 Stamp Act and the 1767 Townshend Acts which increased taxation in colonies without representation in parliament. In Philadelphia and New York colonists made the tea ships return to Britain. In Charleston the cargo was left to rot on the docks. In Boston colonists refused to let them to unload and instigated what is now known as the Boston Tea Party.
The photograph shows the Tea Act passed by the British parliament in May 1773. It supported the East India Company in financial difficulties due to unsold merchandise. The Act gave the company a monopoly on the tea trade with the American colonies. Catalogue ref: C65/942 (Geo III, c 44).
The Tea Act followed earlier sources of grievance in the British American Colonies including the 1765 Stamp Act and the 1767 Townshend Acts passed by the British Crown. These laws increased taxation in the colonies and were considered unfair without their representation in the British parliament. After the Tea Act, in Philadelphia and New York colonists made the tea ships return to Britain. In Charleston the cargo was left to unopened on the docks to waste. In Boston colonists refused to let the ships to be unloaded , the catalyst for the Boston Tea Party.