THE BOSTON TEA PARTY.

Trouble had been brewing for years between Britain and its American Colonies. But the Boston Tea Party of 1773 set off a chain of events that led to the American Revolution.

On a dark December night in 1773, men disguised as Indians boarded three ships anchored in Boston Harbor. Stored in the ships' holds were 340 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company. In three hours, the men dumped all the tea overboard.

Trouble had been growing between Britain and its American Colonies since the 1760s. Britain had imposed taxes on the Colonies. Many Americans responded with the cry "no taxation without representation!"

Then, in 1770, Britain removed the taxes--except for the one on tea. Many colonists got around that tax by drinking smuggled Dutch tea. A period of calm and prosperity set in.

The Boston Tea Party shattered the calm. Relations between Britain and the Colonies grew steadily worse. By 1775, they were at war.

SCENE 1

Narrator 1: December 1772. At his home in Boston, Sam Adams talks with his cousin, John.

Sam Adams: We are being treated like second-class citizens. We have no representatives in the British Parliament. And British troops are on our soil.

John Adams: Now, Sam, things aren't that bad.

Sam: I guess you don't mind our being treated like slaves!

John: Slaves! Really, Sam...

Sam: Things are too quiet. We need to stir up the people, to remind them of British tyranny!

Betsy Adams (enters, carrying a tray):

Sam, John, have some tea.

John: Ah, good Dutch tea!

Sam: Good smuggled tea, that is.

John: People are not upset by the British tax on tea?

Sam: Most people drink smuggled tea, so they pay no tax at all. No, tea is a dead issue. We need something that will stir up the people. But it's definitely not tea.

SCENE 2

Narrator 2: Sam Adams didn't know it, but the issue was going to be tea. In May 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act to help the British East India Company get out of debt. The act made it possible for the company to sell its tea at a low price in the Colonies. But that price included the hated tea tax. Furthermore, only consignees--officially approved merchants--could sell the tea. The merchants were all Loyalists, faithful to Britain.

In November 1773, the Boston consignees meet to welcome Jonathan Clarke home from London.

Jonathan Clarke: Gentlemen, the tea is coming on four ships, which should be here any day now.

Benjamin Feneuil: What a glorious sight that will be! Four shiploads of tea. And all for us!

Joshua Winslow: It will be the cheapest tea ever sold here in the Colonies. That should drive the smugglers out of business!

Faneuil: Which is exactly what worries the Sons of Liberty.

Winslow: Right. It's their merchant friends who are selling that smuggled tea.

Jonathan Clarke: Not for long! (laughs)

Richard Clarke: It is no laughing matter. Listen to this message I received while you were gone: "The freemen of this province understand that there is a quantity of tea consigned to your business by the East India Company. This is destructive to the happiness of every well-wisher to his country. It is therefore expected that you appear at the Liberty Tree next Wednesday to publicly resign your consignment. Fail not, upon your peril! Signed, O.C., Secretary."

Jonathan: O.C.?

Richard: Just phony initials. But you can be sure it was from the Sons of Liberty.

Jonathan: Did you go to the Liberty Tree?

Richard: Of course not!

Jonathan: And?

Richard: They sent a delegation to our warehouse and tried to force their way in. But our workers fought them off.

Faneuil: We must never surrender to the threats of a lowly mob.

Others: Hear, hear!

Narrator 2: Just then, a rock is thrown through the window.

Voice from outside: Come out, you cowards!

2nd voice: Resign, you scurvy consignees!

Thomas (shouting): We will not! You'll drink British tea and like it!

Voices from outside: Never!

Narrator 2: More rocks are thrown at the house, breaking windows.

SCENE 3

Narrator 3: The first tea ship, the Dartmouth, arrives in Boston on November 28. The next day, more than 5,000 people attend a mass meeting called by the Sons of Liberty. It is decided to send 25 armed men to keep the tea from being unloaded.

But time seems to be on the side of the consignees. According to law, ships must be unloaded within 20 days after arrival. Otherwise, customs officials and British soldiers are to do it themselves.

By December 16, three tea ships are tied up at Griffin's Wharf. Most important, the Dartmouth has been there for 19 days. Unless something is done, customs officials and British troops will unload the tea the next day.

Seven thousand people gather at Old South Meeting House in a final effort to persuade Francis Rotch, owner of the Dartmouth, to return his ship to England without unloading the tea. Rotch says he cannot do this unless Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson gives permission. Rotch goes to see the governor. Upon his return...

Samuel Savage (the moderator): What did the governor say?

Francis Notch: He will not give my ship permission to leave until the tea is unloaded.

Savage: Do you intend to unload the tea yourself?

Rotch: It's not my business. But if the customs officials order me to unload the tea, I'll have no choice.

Voice in crowd: Who knows how tea will mingle with seawater? (Crowd breaks into cheers.)

Savage (pounding gavel): Silence, please! Mr. Rotch is a good, honest man. No one should try to harm him, or his ship!

Sam Adams: This meeting can do nothing more to save the country.

Narrator 3: This seems to be a signal. Some men in the rear break into war whoops.

Voices: The Mohawks are here!

Narrator 3: Men appear wearing headbands, wrapped in blankets, their faces streaked with paint or soot.

2nd voice: To Griffin's Wharf!

3rd voice: Boston Harbor's a teapot tonight!

SCENE 4

Narrator 4: A few hours later, the men dressed like Indians are busy at work on the Dartmouth.

Johnny: Phew! This is hard work, breaking open these chests and dumping them overboard.

Mike: Look at all that tea floating in the harbor! Are you scared?

Johnny: Why should I be scared?

Mike: What if the British troops should come?

Johnny: They're at the fort on Castle Island. And they'd never get through that crowd on the wharf. Look--there must be hundreds of people there!

Paul Revere (from the cargo hold). Hey, you two! You're falling behind!

Mike: Know who that is?

Johnny: No, who?

Mike: Paul Revere--he's one of the Sons of Liberty!

Johnny: Hey! It looks like they've finished on the other two ships.

Revere: We'd be finished too, if you two stopped gabbing.

Johnny: We're just catching our breath. This is hard work, sir.

Revere: Just keep at it. I've got a ride ahead of me before I get home.

Johnny (whispers): That's all he does, ride around. (They laugh.)

Narrator 4: Mike and Johnny finish their work and leave the ship.

Johnny: Wonder how long it took?

Bystander: About three hours. And a good job it was, lads.

Johnny: Three hours? It's late--I've got to get home. What will I tell my mother?

Mike: Tell her you've been to a party--the Boston Tea Party!

SCENE 5

Narrator 5: To teach Boston a lesson, the British Parliament passes a series of laws called the Coercive Acts. These acts close the Port of Boston until the town pays for the destroyed tea. Massachusetts is to be governed by a council appointed by the Crown. And colonists are required to feed and house British solders.

People in Massachusetts call these laws the Intolerable Acts. Americans in other colonies also see the action of Parliament as a threat to their liberty. The result is the convening, in 1774, of the First Continental Congress.

After the night of the Boston Tea Party, relations between Britain and the Colonies grow worse and worse and finally lead to the American Revolution.

At the home of Sam Adams early in 1774...

John Adams: Well, it looks like tea wasn't a dead issue after all.

Sam Adams: Lucky for us the Clarkes were so stubborn! If they had given in, there would have been no trouble.

John: The Tea Party was magnificent, Sam. I'm certain it will go down as a great moment in American history.

Sam: Yes, and the British have taken the bait! These Intolerable Acts are just a matter of revenge. They're unreasonable acts, and the people will not stand for them!

John: Sam, if the British were reasonable, you'd have no issue at all, Then what would you do?

Sam (Smiling): That is a frightening thought, isn't it? But if all governments were just, there would never be any trouble, would there?

Characters

Narrators 1-5

Sam Adams, 51, champion of American independence

John Adams, 38, his cousin

Besty Adams, Sam's wife

Richard Clarke, 62, pro-British tea merchant

Jonathan Clarke, 30, his son

Isaac Clarke, 27, another son

Benjamin Faneuil Jr., tea merchant

Joshua Winslow, tea merchant

1st voice from outside

2nd voice from outside

Samuel Savage, moderator of mass meetings, December 14-16

Francis Rotch, 23, owner of the tea ship, Dartmouth

Voices in crowd.

Johny, 14, schoolboy [*]

Mike 14, schoolboy [*]

Paul Revere; 38, messenger for the Sons of Liberty

Bystander [*]

(*.) Non-historical characters. However, two 14-year-olds did take part in the Tea Party.