Revolutionary War Causes Notes
Tea Act & Coercive Act (Causes 8&9)
8. Tea Act (1773)- This act actually drastically lowered the tax on tea. The reason was
the British East India Tea company was nearly bankrupt because of the colonist boycotts.
The British tea company asked the government to lower the tax on tea and allow them to
sell the tea directly to the colonists in their own ships with their own sellers. The
colonists were angry over this because it took many jobs from people who worked in the
harbor as well as merchants who used to buy the tea from Britain and then sell it to the
colonists for profit. The colonists were also angry because there was still a small tax on
the tea and if they paid it they would be consenting to “taxation without representation”.
British Perspective- How much more ridiculous can you get. There is nothing we can
do to please the colonists. We took the tax off the tea making it extremely cheep. We
want our people to have jobs so we gave them permission to sell directly to the colonists
which aided in the low price. How can they be mad over us getting rid of the tax on tea?
They now have destroyed an entire ship with a half million pounds of tea on board in the
Boston Harbor. They threw the tea into the harbor and destroyed our property.
Colonist Perspective- The British were first taxing us which was bad but now they are
taking our jobs. We have hundreds of colonists who work in the harbor on ships
unloading them as they come in. We have hundreds of other merchants who sell tea that
will now go out of business because Britain is giving their tea company the right to sell
tea directly to us. First a tax, and now our jobs! They are depriving us of our right to
live!
9. Coercive Acts (1774)- This was a series of acts. The biggest of these closed the
Boston Harbor until all the destroyed tea had been paid for.
British Perspective- The colonists broke the law by dumping our tea into the Boston
Harbor. The tea belonged to the East India Company, a British company that was trying
to sell tea cheaper than ever before to the colonists. The East India Co. had reduced the
tax to almost nothing and eliminated the “middle man” so the tea could be sold extremely
cheep. Now we are punishing the colonists for their crimes by closing the Boston Harbor
until the tea is paid for. Once they pay back the damages caused by the crime, we will reopen the harbor.
Colonist Perspective- The British government is now depriving us of our rights of life,
liberty, and property. How are we supposed to live a successful life without being able to
work in the harbor? Nearly all of our jobs center around using the Boston harbor. We
should have the freedom (liberty) to work where we desire. The Boston harbor is our
property and they are taking it away from us. It was a small group of colonists who
destroyed their tea. Why are they punishing all of us? Completely unfair! Also, how are
we supposed to pay back the tea if we cannot work? Britain is not protecting our rights
and we should be able to change the government to one that does protect our rights!