The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed by the British government on the American colonies in 1767. They placed new taxes and took away some freedoms from the colonists including the following: New taxes on imports of paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea.

In an effort to save the troubled enterprise, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773. The act granted the company the right to ship its tea directly to the colonies without first landing it in England, and to commission agents who would have the sole right to sell tea in the colonies.

George Grenville

The Townshend Acts were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power.

The Stamp Act will tax playing cards and dice: The tax for playing cards is one shilling. The tax for every pair of dice is ten shillings.

The 2-shilling 6-pence stamp paid the tax on a variety of contracts, leases, conveyances, protests, and bills of sale, as well as conveyances of real property of more than two hundred acres but not more than 320 acres.

The Stamp Act was very unpopular among colonists. A majority considered it a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without their consent—consent that only the colonial legislatures could grant. Their slogan was “No taxation without representation”.

It was on December 16, 1773 that American rebels disguised themselves as Indians and threw 342 chests of British Tea into the Boston Harbor, paving the way for the American Revolution. December 16 also marks other historical landmarks in America.

The sudden rise in population by the British troops meant all food and fuel had to be spread more thinly. There were also constant clashes between the townspeople and British soldiers. Bostonians resented the military presence and the British looked upon the citizenry as unruly rabble.

John Adams

The Boston Port Act was the first Intolerable Act passed. It was direct punishment to the city of Boston for the Boston Tea Party. The act closed the port of Boston to all ships until the colonists paid for the tea they dumped into the harbor.

The Intolerable Acts (passed/Royal assent March 31 – 22 June 1774) were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party.

The damage the Sons of Liberty caused by destroying 340 chests of tea, in today’s money, was worth more than $1,700,000 dollars. The British East India Company reported £9,659 worth of damage caused by the Boston Tea Party. According to some modern estimates, the destroyed tea could have brewed 18,523,000 cups of tea!