TEA ACT (1773). An Act to allow a Drawback of the Duties of Customs on the Exportation of Tea to any of His Majesty's Colonies or Plantations in America; to increase the Deposit on Bohea Tea to be sold at the India Company's Sales; and to impower the Commissioners of the Treasury to grant Licences to the East India Company to export Tea Duty-free.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Great Britain. Parliament.

Published by London: Charles Eyre and William Strahan, 1773

About this Item

THE ACT THAT PROVOKED THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. Folio (11.5 inches). 13 George III, Chapter 44. General title leaf + pages 895-902 + conjugate blank leaf. Woodcut Royal coat of arms and decorative initial. Text in Black Letter. Neatly extracted from a bound volume. Very clean. By the terms of the Tea Act, 1773 the financially-troubled East India Company was allowed to sell tea directly to the American colonies without having to land it first in England, and at a reduced tax rate. The savings were considerable, and helped the Company to move their vast accumulations of unsold tea. Boston had been the largest and most important importer of legal tea in the colonies, whereas smugglers had dominated the markets of New York and Philadelphia. American patriots in Boston strongly opposed the British maneuver to preferentially assist the East India Company, and believed that the colonies were once again being unfairly taxed without proper representation in British parliament. The Tea Act, 1773 was considered symbolic of British taxation tyranny, and colonial resistance to the policy was swift and fierce. Frenzied protests culminated in the Boston Tea Party of 16 December 1773, wherein 342 chests of East India Company tea were dumped into Boston Harbour by rioting dissidents masquerading as Native Americans. When news of the Boston Tea Party reached London in January 1774, the British government responded swiftly by closing the Port of Boston until the East India Company was compensated for its losses. Five punitive laws (later known as the Coercive or Intolerable Acts) were also quickly passed in an attempt to restore British authority in the American colonies. Not surprisingly, the Tea Act, 1773 proved to be a major cause of unrest and rebellion that led to the American Revolution.

Seller Inventory # 196

Bibliographic Details

• Title: TEA ACT (1773). An Act to allow a Drawback of the Duties of Customs on the Exportation of Tea to any of His Majesty's Colonies or Plantations in America; to increase the Deposit on Bohea Tea to be sold at the India Company's Sales; and to impower the Commissioners of the Treasury to grant Licences to the East India Company to export Tea Duty-free.
• Publisher: London: Charles Eyre and William Strahan
• Publication Date: 1773
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • AMERICAN REVOLUTION
  • GREAT BRITAIN Taxation & Duties