Parliament meanwhile passes the Tea Act to lower the price of taxed tea exported to the colonies in order to help the East India Company undersell smuggled Dutch tea.

Special consignees are appointed to sell the tea in order to bypass colonial merchants.

In most instances, the consignees are forced to resign and the tea is turned back, but Massachusetts governor Hutchinson refuses to allow Boston merchants to give in to pressure.

A town meeting in Boston determines that the tea will not be landed, and ignores a demand from the governor to disperse.

On December 16, 1773, a group of men, led by Samuel Adams and dressed to evoke the appearance of natives, board the ships of the British East India Company and dump £10,000 worth of tea from their holds (approximately £636,000 in 2008) into Boston Harbor.

Decades later, this event will become known as the Boston Tea Party and will remain a significant part of American patriotic lore.