Tea Act

E961

The Tea Act was a 1773 British law granting the East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies, helping spark colonial resistance that led to the American Revolution.

Aliases (2)

Statements (44)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Act of Parliament of Great Britain
British colonial law
appliesToJurisdiction British America
Thirteen Colonies
colonialPerception seen as an attempt to establish a precedent for parliamentary taxation without representation
viewed as a violation of colonial rights
country Kingdom of Great Britain
dateEnacted 1773-05-10
describedAs a catalyst for the American Revolution
economicImpact aimed to increase revenue from tea duties in the colonies
threatened colonial merchants who traded in smuggled tea
effect allowed the British East India Company to ship tea directly to the American colonies
granted the British East India Company a monopoly on legal tea imports into the American colonies
reduced the wholesale price of East India Company tea in the colonies
retained the existing Townshend duty on tea in the colonies
followedBy Coercive Acts
Intolerable Acts
grantedMonopolyTo British East India Company
historicalPeriod American Revolutionary era
implementedBy British customs officials in the American colonies
legalStatusOfTea made East India Company tea the only legal imported tea in the colonies
legislativeBody Parliament of Great Britain
locationOfNotableProtest Boston
Charleston
New York City
Philadelphia
mainSubject taxation in the Thirteen Colonies
tea trade
monarchAtEnactment George III
opposedBy American colonists
Sons of Liberty
partOf British imperial policy toward the American colonies
purpose to allow the British East India Company to sell surplus tea in the American colonies
to assist the financially troubled British East India Company
to undercut the price of smuggled Dutch tea in the colonies
relatedTo American Revolution
Boston Tea Party
No taxation without representation
Townshend Acts
taxType indirect tax on tea consumption in the colonies
triggeredEvent Boston Tea Party
colonial boycotts of British tea
heightened colonial resistance to British taxation policies
yearEnacted 1773


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