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thot this particular day in history was perhaps one of the more significant...
this piece seems to be as much op/ed as documentary, but eye kinda like the POV
(a '76 HSgrad mesself, having missed the courses on revisionist history, i'll assume its correct...
and being orig from the state of MA (in my k-12days) cant help but wonder what these people would think/have to say about whats happened since, esp in MA ;)
The Boston Tea Party, 1773
Victory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) agitated the colonists, straining relations with the mother country. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that spurred the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.
The colonies refused to pay the levies required by the Townsend Acts claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by a Parliament in which they had no representation. In response, Parliament retracted the taxes with the exception of a duty on tea - a demonstration of Parliament's ability and right to tax the colonies. In May of 1773 Parliament concocted a clever plan. They gave the struggling East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to America. Additionally, Parliament reduced the duty the colonies would have to pay for the imported tea. The Americans would now get their tea at a cheaper price than ever before. However, if the colonies paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them. Tea was a staple of colonial life - it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a cup of tea.
The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy.
When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was consigned to a warehouse where it remained for three years until it was sold by patriots in order to help finance the revolution.
In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty.
Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men, some disguised as Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.
Most colonists applauded the action while the reaction in London was swift and vehement. In March 1774 Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts which among other measures closed the Port of Boston. The fuse that led directly to the explosion of American independence was lit.
more to this one at: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm
and more, with less op/ed - from the wiki-P:
yep - its often been my opinion that if the folks from them daze returned, they wouldnt be very happy with the way things have turned out and would likely, IMHO, burn washinton dc to the ground and start over.
i also believe they would start the first blaze at this address:
The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building
but short of that, they would, at the very least WANT TO KICK OUT ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE BELTWAY and make them all re-apply for their jobs, excluding anybody who's been there more than 12years (since they ARE The Problem)
just my .02, as a simple tradesman, representing only myself, but perhaps voicing the frustrations that (most of) 'the 69%' are feeling - with not only the 1%, but their enablers in the political class...
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYBODY, only 9daze and countin (til the end, FINALLY, of 'shopping season' ;)
this piece seems to be as much op/ed as documentary, but eye kinda like the POV
(a '76 HSgrad mesself, having missed the courses on revisionist history, i'll assume its correct...
and being orig from the state of MA (in my k-12days) cant help but wonder what these people would think/have to say about whats happened since, esp in MA ;)
Originally posted by eyewitnesstohistory.com
The Boston Tea Party, 1773
Victory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) agitated the colonists, straining relations with the mother country. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that spurred the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.
 Colonialists attack, tar and feather a hapless tax collector |
The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy.
When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was consigned to a warehouse where it remained for three years until it was sold by patriots in order to help finance the revolution.
In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty.
Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men, some disguised as Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.
Most colonists applauded the action while the reaction in London was swift and vehement. In March 1774 Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts which among other measures closed the Port of Boston. The fuse that led directly to the explosion of American independence was lit.
more to this one at: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm
Originally posted by .wikipedia.org
yep - its often been my opinion that if the folks from them daze returned, they wouldnt be very happy with the way things have turned out and would likely, IMHO, burn washinton dc to the ground and start over.
i also believe they would start the first blaze at this address:
The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building
but short of that, they would, at the very least WANT TO KICK OUT ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE BELTWAY and make them all re-apply for their jobs, excluding anybody who's been there more than 12years (since they ARE The Problem)
just my .02, as a simple tradesman, representing only myself, but perhaps voicing the frustrations that (most of) 'the 69%' are feeling - with not only the 1%, but their enablers in the political class...
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYBODY, only 9daze and countin (til the end, FINALLY, of 'shopping season' ;)
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