Tea Act

The so-called Tea Act, passed in 1773, allowed the British East India Company to sell tea to the British colonies in North America without the usual colonial tax, thereby allowing them to undercut the prices of the colonial merchants and smugglers. This was primarily intended to aid the finances of the East India Company, which were close to collapse due to famine in India and economic weakness in European markets. The British government intended to give the East India Company an effective monopoly on tea imports to the Thirteen Colonies. However, it backfired. Because many Americans, earned their living from smuggling, they disliked the commercial advantages granted by the government to the Company. This act led to wide boycotts of tea throughout the colonies, and, eventually, to the Boston Tea Party where American colonists threw of from East India Company ships into the Boston Harbor. This act, and the retaliatory measures taken by the British government afterwards, united the colonies even more in their frustrations against Britain, and was but several of the many causes of the American Revolution.

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1773: 1773 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar)....

British East India Company: The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as "John Company", was a joint-stock company of investors, which was granted a Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, with the intent to favour trade privileges in India. The Royal Charter effectively gave the newly created Honourabl...

Tea: Tea is a caffeine-containing beverage, an infusion made by steeping the dried leaves or buds of the shrub Camellia sinensis in hot water for a few minutes. In addition, tea may also include other herbs, spices, or fruit flavours....

Tea Act related Images and Photos (experimental)

Tea	Tea	Tea Pot	Tea Time
Tea-Time	Tea Time	Tea Time	Tea Party
Tea Moods	Tea Magnets	Tea Pot IV	Class Act (DVD)