Edenton Tea Party
1774
By Ara Steel
Plan Outline
The events that caused the Edenton Tea Party
(The Boston Tea Party).
The different reactions from Britain.
Details of the Edenton Tea Party.
Different attitudes towards women
(Britain/America).
How the American Revolutions created
opportunities for women.
Conclusion.
Focus Question:
What were the ramifications of a women’s
led protest (The Edenton Tea Party,
1774)?
Boston Tea Party:
Causes &
Consequences
Causes
10th of May 1773 the Tea Act is passed in
British Parliament.
The Boston Tea Party, 16th December
1773.
Rebellion against British control sweeps
colonies.
Consequences
Britain closed off Boston Harbor, and
imposed a new tax on all commodities going
into America, Lead, Glass, Paint, and Tea.
British soldiers posted in colonies to try and
assert control.
Colonies further outraged.
Edenton Tea Party
25th October 1774
Edenton Tea Party (1774)
Boston Tea Party not the only colony to rebel
against Tea Taxes.
On the 25th of October 1774 Mrs. Penelope Barker
arranged a meeting of 51 women at Mrs. Elizabeth
King’s house, there to debate the consumption of
British products.
All women signed an oath outlining their promise to
sustain from using British products, until such a
time that Britain stopped being unreasonable.
“Maybe it has only been men who
have protested the king up to now.
That only means we women have
taken too long to let our voices be
heard. We are signing our names to
a document, not hiding ourselves
behind costumes like the men in
Boston did at their tea party. The
British will know who we are.”
Mrs. Penelope Barker,
(about the signing of the oath)
‘As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears
nearly to affect the peace and happiness of our country, and
as it has been thought necessary, for the public good, to
enter into several particular resolves by a meeting of
Members deputed from the whole Province, it is a duty
which we owe, not only to our near and dear connections
who have concurred in them, but to ourselves who are
essentially interested in their welfare, to do every thing as
far as lies in our power to testify our sincere adherence to
the same; and we do therefore accordingly subscribe this
paper, as a witness of our fixed intention and solemn
determination to do so.’
Full pledge of the 51 Edenton Ladies,
25th October,1774
Response from Britain/America
Once the news of the Edenton Ladies had
reached Britain, newspapers delighted in
making sarcastic remarks about the Ladies’
ability to stick their noses into political
affairs. One example of this was the
engraving of the meeting (next slide).
In America they were hailed as strong and
heroic characters for facing off against the
strangling hold of Britain.
51 Edenton Ladies
“The only security on our side … is the
probability that there are but few places in
America which possess so much female
artillery as Edenton.”
Arthur Iredell, 1774
"No more shall my teapot so generous be
In filling the cups with this pernicious tea,
For I'll fill it with water and drink out the
same
Before I'll lose liberty that dearest name."
American Newspaper celebrating the Edenton Tea Party
Women’s Rights?
Life Before the American Revolutions:
housewife, no rights, allowed to be beaten,
bought up to raise children, cook, and clean.
Life During the Revolutions: filling in for the
men away at war as blacksmiths, ship
builders, nurses, carpenters, cooks and
cleaners on the front lines.
Life After: men expected it to go back to the
way it had been, however a precedent for
women’s political involvement had been set.
Women on the Front
Line
Conclusion
The events that shaped the Edenton Tea Party
started with the taxes passed by British Parliament.
The Edenton Tea Party shocked the Western
World, with the bold political activism of the
American women.
Edenton Ladies praised by America, scorned by
Britain (e.g. Newspaper articles, caricatures ).
The Edenton Tea Party is thought to have been the
beginning of the fight for women’s rights in America.
Focus Question: Answered
The sarcasm expressed in Britain towards the
Edenton Tea Party was not only because the
protest was anti-British, but also revealed rigid
traditional attitudes towards women.
Women’s activism in the Edenton Tea Party (1774)
proved to other American colonies that women
could and would participate in politics concerning
their new homeland.
The Edenton Tea Party was a break through for
women in the sense it laid the foundations for
women’s involvement in political affairs later on in
America.
Memorial bronze teapot in Edenton to
celebrate the 51 ‘Edenton Ladies’