新东方新托福听力特训Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party

Okay calss, I know you must be up to your ear in history, but let's talk about another
important event in American history called the Boston Tea Party. On the evening of
December 16, 1773, a group of American patriots went to the Boston Harbor. The
men were dressed as Mohawk Indians and boarded three British vessels, the Beaver,
the Eleanor, and the Dartmough of th East Indian Company. After they boarded the
docked ships, they dumped all the tea that was on the three ships, which amounted to
45 tons or 342 chests with a value of 10 000 pounds, into the ocean. You must be
asking yourself why on earth these grown men would dump all that tea in the water.
Let's back up and start from the beginning and discover what led to this interesting
chapter in American history. It all began when the British East Indian Company had
total control of the tea trade between India and the British colonies. To offest this
domination of tea, the colonies would smuggle their tea in from Holland. As a result
of the Tea Act OF 1773, which was passed by Parliament to save the British East
India Company from bankruptcy,the colonies refused to buy British tea, The Tea Act
basically elininated all taxes on tea and offered Americans tea at a lower price than
that of colonial smugglers. This Tea Act was put in place to save the British East
Indian Company from bankruptcy,m but would cause the colonial smugglers to go out
of business, Because the patriots feared the Tea Act would create an illegal monopoly,
they discouraged people from importing tea, Fearing that some people would
continue to buy their tea from the British East Indian Company because it was so
cheap, the patriots took control by taking matters into their own hands, The paatriots
decided to reject tea shipments and they demanded that tea ships be permitted to
returen to England without paying the duty required by law.Over 5 000 townspoeple
of Boston and surrounding towns gathered at Old South Meeting House to beg the
governor to send the ships back to England, Howerver, the governor rfused and it was
on the night of December 16 that 60 men dressed as Mohawk Indians went over to the
Boston harbor and boarded the shops and dumped the tea into the Boston harbor.
Needless to say, Parliament was furious and reacted by closing the Boston
harbor.This event was just the beginning of a long clash between England and the
colonies.