Day 48
SWBAT:
Do Now: (Please note, the poem reads from top to bottom)
Revolutionary Tea
There was once an old lady
And so the old lady her servant called up
And she was an island queen.
And packed off a budget of tea;
Her daughter lived off in a new country
And eager for three pence a pound, she put in
With an ocean of water between.
Enough for a large family.
The old lady’s pockets were full of gold
She ordered her servant to bring home the tax,
But never contented was she,
Declaring her child should obey,
So she called on her daughter to pay her a tax
Or old as she was, and almost full grown,
Of three pence a pound on her tea,
She’d half whip her life away,
Of three pence a pound on her tea.
She’d half whip her life away.
“Now, mother, dear mother,” the daughter replied,
The tea was conveyed to the daughter’s door,
“I shan’t do the thing you ask.
All down by the ocean’s side,
I’m willing to pay a fair price for the tea,
And the bouncing girl poured out every pound
But never the three-penny tax.”
IN the dark and boiling tide;
“You shall,” quote the mother, and reddened with
rage,
And then she called out to the island queen,
“Oh mother, dear mother,” quoth she,
“For you’re my own daughter, you see,
And sure ‘tis quite proper the daughter should pay
“Your tea you may have when ‘tis steeped quite
enough
Her mother a tax on her tea
But never a tax from me,
Her mother a tax on her tea.”
But never a tax from me.”
Agenda: 1) Do Now: Read the Poem and answer the
questions on the reverse of the page. 2) The Tea Act
Revolutionary Tea
1) Who is the poem referring to as the “Island Queen”?
2) Who is the poem referring to as the “Daughter”?
3) Explain what type of relationship the poem Revolutionary Tea is depicting.
4) How is this seen in the 3rd stanza?
5) Think: What event is being depicted in the fourth, and final, stanza?
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/makingrev/crisis/text6/teaactresponse.pdf
In a move to save the near-bankrupt British East India Company – and to assert its taxation authority
over the American colonies – Parliament and Lord North passed the Tea Act in May 1773. It granted a
virtual monopoly of the American tea market to the East Indian Company, even reducing the previous
duty (import tax) on tea. The problem was that American merchants had for many years avoided paying
any tax on tea by smuggling lower priced tea from French and Dutch suppliers.
The uproar over this new instance of “taxation without representation” grew to a crisis in late 1773; the
crisis reflected the Americans’ genuine fear for their liberties as English subjects, as well as merchants’
fears for their profits. All of these fears were further enflamed by the Sons of Liberty and other activists
whose goal was to gain independence from Great Britain.
What group and what person passed the Tea
Act?
Explain why the Prime Minister passed the Tea
Act?
With the passing of the Tea Act the British East India Company promptly shipped 1,700 chests containing about
500,000 pounds of tea to its stores in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.
Below, are a number of primary sources showcasing the Americans, or should I say Bostonians response to the Tea
Act. After reading each, we are going to try and determine how the Bostonians felt about the Tea Act.
The Massachusetts Spy, or, Thomas’s Boston Journal, 4 November 1773.
Yesterday there was a numerous assembly of the inhabitants of this and the neighboring towns at
Liberty Tree, agreeable to a notification that had been the day before issued, “To hear the persons to
whom the tea shipped by the East India Company is consigned, make a public resignation of their
office as consignees, upon oath ⎯ and also swear that they will reship any teas that may be consigned
to them by said company by the first vessel sailing for London.”

1) Explain what Bostonians wanted the East India Company workers to do concerning the
tea that was set for Boston. Lastly, tell me if their response was violent.


The Boston News-Letter, 18 November 1773.
Last Evening a Number of Persons assembled in School Street. They broke the Windows and did other
considerable Damage by throwing large Stones into the House of the late Middlecot Cook, Esq., near
King’s Chapel, now belonging to Dr. Saltonstall of Haverhill, and occupied by Richard Clarke, Esq.
[one of the seven Boston merchants assigned by the East India Company to sell its imported tea].
1) Explain how the Bostonians reacted to the tea that was destined for Boston. How is this
similar to their reaction to the Stamp Act?
The Massachusetts Spy, or, Thomas’s Boston Journal, 2 December 1773.
“Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!
THAT worst of plagues, the detested T E A shipped for this port by the East India Company, is
now arrived in this Harbor: the hour of destruction or manly opposition to the machinations of
tyranny stares you in the face. Every friend to his country, to himself and posterity, is now called
upon to meet at Faneuil Hall at nine o’clock THIS DAY (at which time the bells will ring) to make
a united and successful resistance to this last, worst and most destructive measure of
administration.
1) What is the above urging the Bostonians to do?
Below is a series of resolutions passed by another city in the Colonies. I would like you to read through and answer
the following prompts:
CITIZEN RESOLUTIONS ON THE TEA ACT, 1773___
CITIZENS of PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, assembled at the State House, 18 October
1773, resolutions for the boycott of East India Company tea; Pennsylvania Gazette, 20 October 1773.
1. THAT the Disposal of their own Property is the inherent Right of Freemen; that there can be no Property in that which another can, of Right, take from us without our Consent; that the Claim of Parliament to tax America is, in other Words, a Claim of Right to levy Contributions on us at Pleasure.
2. That the duty imposed by Parliament upon Tea landed in America is a Tax on the Americans, or
levying Contributions on them without their Consent.
3. That the express Purpose for which the Tax is levied on the Americans, namely, for the Support of
Government, Administration of Justice, and Defense of his Majesty’s Dominions in America, has a
direct Tendency to render Assemblies useless, and to introduce arbitrary Government and Slavery.
4. That a virtuous and steady Opposition to this Ministerial Plan1 of governing America is absolutely
necessary to preserve even the Shadow of Liberty, and is a Duty which every Freeman in America
owes to his Country, to himself, and to his Posterity.
5. That the Resolution lately entered into by the East India Company to send out their Tea to America,
subject to the Payment of Duties on its being landed here, is an open Attempt to enforce this
Ministerial Plan and a violent Attack upon the Liberties of America.
6. That it is the Duty of every American to oppose this Attempt.
7. That whoever shall directly or indirectly countenance this Attempt, or in any wise aid or abet in
unloading, receiving, or vending [selling] the Tea sent, or to be sent out by the East India Company,
while it remains subject to the Payment of a Duty here, is an Enemy to his Country.
8. That a Committee be immediately chosen to wait on those Gentlemen who, it is reported, are
appointed by the East India Company to receive and sell said Tea, and request them, from a Regard
to their own Character, and the Peace and good Order of the City and Province, immediately to
resign their Appointment.

1) What other city opposed the Tea Act?
2) Pick two of the above resolutions and put them in your own words. I have already completed one as an
example.
a.
6 (EXAMPLE)
i. It is the job of every citizen and American to stand against and oppose the Tea Act
b.
.
c.
.
These protests eventually boiled over and concluded into what we know now as the Boston Tea Party. In any open space, I
would like you to write about anything you notice about the Boston Tea Party.