The Boston Tea Party: Then & Now

ITO's Devin Foley responds to a CNN reporter who attempts to make a mockery of a dad at Chicago tea party. Here's an excerpt:

"In watching the video, two things are blatantly obvious:  1) The CNN reporter is biased and 2) She has never taken a finance class in her life. She also...

The Boston Tea Party remains one of the few events leading up to the American Revolutionary War which so truly defines, for the average American citizen, the nature of the colonies' severance from England. Aside from the war itself, the Tea Party, in many respects, embodies this resistance movement.

British attempts to colonize the newly discovered continent of North America began with...

"New Research by Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy examines the cost of the debt in another way. Using the Congressional Budget Office's long-term budget projections, this chart compares the relative contributions of general, Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and net interest spending. While general spending and Social Security spending are projected to remain...

This article from EyeWitness to History examines both the English's imperial motives for taxation as well as the understandable outrage from the beleaguered colonies.  It also offers a brief account from George Hewes, one of those present at the harbor on the infamous evening of December 16, 1773.

De Rugy discusses the affect of interest payments on the national debt. "Starting in 2012, the cost of the debt as a percentage of GDP will explode from a mere 1.8 percent of GDP to more than 30 percent of GDP in 2082."

"CNBC's Rick Santelli called for a 'Chicago Tea Party' Thursday, leading the charge for calls to revolt against the Obama Administration's mortgage bailout plan....

The clip has gone viral on the Internet, bringing with it loads of opinions, both pro and con."

New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Boston (all port cities) had the possibility of receiving the tea shipments. This article was a cry for Boston, the eventual last option for East India Company, to stand strongly against the Tea Act.

"The first published account of the Boston Tea Party by a participant was recorded from the words of Joshua Wyeth. He was just sixteen when he joined other patriots in boarding the tea ships in Boston Harbor. Mr. Wyeth told his story to a journalist in Cincinnati where he lived during his later years. The account was published in 1826, 53 years after the event has occurred."

"Throughout November, the Boston's patriots have been meeting, writing, and agitating about the tea. On November 28, 1773, the Dartmouth enters Boston Harbor carrying 114 chests of the East India import. Matters are at an impasse: if returned to England, the tea and the vessel carrying it may be confiscated; if the Townshend duty is not paid by 17 December, the customs collector can...

Thomas Paine's famous and radical 1776 pamphlet made a bold case for American Independence from Britain, at a time when the notion of Independence was still contested among the colonists.

As part of the First Continental Congress, the Declaration of Colonial Rights was adopted as a result of the passage of the Coercive Acts by Parliament in 1774. It is often argued that this was a direct precursor and influence of the Declaration of Independence.

Philadelphia reacts to the passage of the Tea Act by refusing tea to be shipped to its ports. The author likens this new act to the infamous Stamp Act of 1765, complaining that this, too, is simply a tax for revenue.

"As health care costs continue to grow faster than the economy and the baby-boom generation nears eligibility for Social Security and Medicare, the United States faces inevitable decisions about the fundamentals of its spending policies and its means of financing those policies. This Congressional Budget Office report looks at a range of possible paths for federal spending and...

Perhaps the most controversial of the Coercive Acts (also known as the Intolerable Acts) of 1774, this was part of England's harsh reaction to the Boston Tea Party. Several of these acts specifically targeted MA in an attempt to set an example for the rest of the colonies.

This piece is contained in the Boston Pamphlet as part of the reaction against British attempts to strengthen their stronghold on the colonies. Moreover, it was a response to the slew of acts England passed during the 1760s and would remain a symbol to the colonists who participated in the Boston Tea Party.

This act precipitated further rebellious action in the colonies, which already held strong grievances toward Britain. It eliminated the transfer of the tea through Britain and instead directly taxed the colonies (which it originally attempted to hide from the colonies) to boost the struggling East India Company. Furthermore, it strengthened the monopoly of the East India Company at the expense...

Albion's Seed traces the path of four different cultural groups that had settled in America. Taking this unique approach in examining the colonies, Fischer argues that these different immigrants directly shaped the modern cultural formation of America. Although there is no direct discussion of the Tea Party, Fischer gives a fascinating interpretation of the road to America's...

"This is a study of the formulation of British policy towards the American colonies during the crucial period between the Boston Tea Party of December 1773 and the American Declaration of Independence in July 1776. It is set against the background both of British public opinion and of the developing resistance movement in America. Peter Thomas examines the constraints on British policy-making...