John Hancock organized a boycott of tea from China that was sold by the British East India Company. At this point in time the Company was suffering greatly with large debts and huge amounts of tea in their warehouses with no hope in sight of selling it due to the escapades of people such as Hancock. The sale of tea in the colonies had dropped from 320,000 pounds to 520 pounds due to the boycott, and was exerting incredible pressure on the government to make changes. The boycott proved a significant moment in history for American women as it was one of the first times that women as a group had made an effort to influence public policy and opinion in the Colonies.
The Escalation of a Bad Situation
As time passed the situation worsened. Most American ports began turning away the ships carrying tea, forcing them to return to their homeports with full cargoes. But in Boston things were slightly different. The East India Company had the governor backing it one hundred percent, and plans were being made to land the tea under the protection of British armed ships, even if they had to do so using force.
The Night in Question
The tense situation came to a head on the night the tea arrived in Boston Harbor, which was the night of December 16, 1773. On that night a group of approximately 60-70 Boston residents calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, headed by either Samuel Adams or John Hancock, made their way towards Griffin’s Wharf dressed as Indians. Three ships loaded with tea were at the docks when they arrived. The ships were called the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver. With boisterous war chants, the men boarded the ships and went about destroying all of the tea onboard. By 9 P.M. that evening the men, determined in their purpose, had managed to smash 342 crates of tea from all three ships and all of the tea had been thrown into the harbor. Surprisingly enough the entire incident was done with no violence whatsoever. It was very much like a peaceful protest of today. After the tea was all disposed of, the men removed their shoes, swept the decks of all three ships and went about making each ship’s first mate attest to the fact that tea was the only item destroyed on the ships.