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Adam brings up an excellent point, and it's time to talk about that Tea Party in Boston.
The Fake News Media won't tell you the real story, but it's as American as Apple Pie and reverse mortgages. Buckle up. https://twitter.com/CopManAD/status/1327227356352831488
The Fake News Media won't tell you the real story, but it's as American as Apple Pie and reverse mortgages. Buckle up. https://twitter.com/CopManAD/status/1327227356352831488
In school you learn that Britain was taxing the colonies on consumption of vital goods, including tea, and the colonists got pissed because they had no representation in Parliament. The Brits thought that, well, since they provided security of the colonies they aughta pay taxes.
Now, setting aside that this is an entirely reasonable position: Navies aren't cheap, the business concerns in the Colonies were thriving and Britain felt it was appropriate to help pay for securing the sea lanes for Transatlantic trade. ... When you say it out loud...
We can also acknowledge that having a tax levied on you by what amounted to, at that point, a foreign power was also likely to cause friction. And it was a likewise reasonable position that the colonies should have representation.
But that would have been cumbersome across an ocean before telecommunications. It's a fun aside of history that the US and UK came to an agreement that could have avoided the War of 1812 but because of the distance the war had started before it could be implemented.
So anyway, Britain rolls their eyes and repeals all the taxes except the one on tea.
There's no doubt that anti-British sentiment was running high in some corners of the colonies, and the colonials decided the way to send the middle finger to Britain was to not drink its tea.
There's no doubt that anti-British sentiment was running high in some corners of the colonies, and the colonials decided the way to send the middle finger to Britain was to not drink its tea.
So Americans do what Americans do: They enterprised the problem and started a black market for tea smuggled from the Dutch that would cut out the dastardly British and their outrageous tea tax.
Now guys like John Hancock and Samuel Adams become important. Hancock made a damn mint on this illegal tea smuggling, and it also devastated the East India Company, leaving it with inventory it couldn't move because of the robust black market for tea.
So, Parliament changes the taxation structure on tea, allowing the Brits to sell their tea at prices below what the black market was selling it at, keeping the tax but undercutting those like Hancock who were rolling in cash from the smuggling operation.
And so I hope you are where this is going...
There's no evidence that John Hancock participated in the Boston Tea Party, but he was most likely there when the idea was hatched. An certainly had the most to gain if something were to ... happen to the E. India Co.'s tea.
There's no evidence that John Hancock participated in the Boston Tea Party, but he was most likely there when the idea was hatched. An certainly had the most to gain if something were to ... happen to the E. India Co.'s tea.
