The+Tea+Act

**Tea Act**
Britain originally did not want to raise revenue in the colonies and they did not even make new taxes. The East India had too much tea and was not selling any. The East India Company was also high in debt and the government wanted to help the company. The British tell the company that they can now send tea straight to the colonies because that was what smugglers from the Caribbean were doing. Because the East India Company could skip England and go straight to the colonies, it lowered their price of tea. Because the East India Company's tea was the cheapest, the colonists bought the majority of their tea there. But, because the British were selling the tea directly, most of the local merchants lost their businesses. The colonists were still mad at the British because even though the price was cheap there was still a tax. The colonists did not accept the tax because they did not want to let Britain still be able to give taxes. Britain thought that if they lowered the price of tea that it would eventually make more money for the East India Company because more people would buy it. But, leaders in the colonies found a reason to think that this was a trick to provide help for the taxes that were already there. || [] || media type="file" key="history recording.wma" width="143" height="152" || In 1773, the Tea Act was passed by Parliament. The Tea Act was created to help support the East India Company who shipped their tea to the colonies. The Tea Act’s intention was not to raise the taxes in the American colonies but to help the East India Company get back on their feet again. The Tea Act actually created no new tax on tea in the colonies. The East India Company failing economically and losing money. They also had 18 million pounds of extra tea. So to help the East India Company make more money, the British let them go straight to America rather than going through Britain. Going through Britain costs money so now that they are saving this money, they put the price of tea cheaper in the colonies and now they are making more money because more people are buying the extra tea. Since the East India Company’s tea was cheaper than other companies, the colonists in America would rather buy the East India Company’s tea. ||
 * __Describe the Act or Event__
 * __Why Was the Tea Act Created?__

[] || media type="file" key="why was it created.wma" width="153" height="195" || The colonists had an abrupt reaction to the Tea Act. Many colonists were angry at the Tea Act and decided one night to dress themselves up as Indians and board British ships. They headed out to the middle of the Boston Harbor and anchored themselves there. All of a sudden they started to pour 342 chests of perfectly good tea into the water. The tea belonged to the East India Company. After three hours 90,000 pounds of tea worth £10,000 of money was floating in the Boston Harbor. Because the colonists reacted this way Parliament proved that Boston was the center of all of the protesting. Because the British government had such abrupt reprisals, the American colonies took those as a sign that more protests against the British were going to begin. || http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/7f33d7df8db4aa440a864c09f329c8a5_1M.png&imgrefurl=http// || media type="file" key="history recording 2.wma" width="153" height="166" || When the colonists discovered that the Tea Act (the tea was still taxed) was in effect, they were outraged and lashed out at the British. Their reaction affected the British. Since the colonists wouldn’t buy tea, it was pointless to bring tea over and the India Tea Company would not receive money. The British was losing money and soon they were forced to close and block off Boston, one of the biggest ports in the colonies. They were not able to send anything over and they could not get Boston to trade so they lost even more money. The British were in the middle of a major money loss. || || [|Better 1.wma] || The Tea Act also affected the colonists. The King had the Boston port closed to pay off all the tea they destroyed. The port was closed so they had no source of food and no outside connection. At first they didn’t worry, but then people started to get hungry and people needed new food and more supplies. The other colonies tried to help by selling them food cheap, but it wasn’t enough. They had no weapons either because they had to ship to them. They were also unable to make much money because they had no way of transporting it to different countries and places. || [] || [|good.wma] || Since the East India Company was smuggling their tea to the colonies, they helped the British government take action against smuggling. But by that time the colonists were apprehensive about what the British were doing and this led to the Boston Tea Party. When the British found out about what happened at the Boston Tea Party, they were dismayed at the colonist’s actions. Because of the Boston Tea Party, the British closed down the Boston Harbor. This was a part of laws, in a reaction to the event. These laws wound up making the colonists come together as one and make their frustration against Britain greater. The Intolerable Acts was part of why the colonists convened the First Continental Congress, where they petitioned the acts against the British. Conflict grew amongst the British and the colonists and the ultimately grew into the Revolutionary War in 1775. || http://www.dipity.com/ethandressen/Top-ten-events-in-U-S-history-to-1800_1/ || media type="file" key="what followed.wma" width="156" height="188" || Paragraphs: Davidson, James West5. “The Tea Act.” America History of Our Nation//. 2011 ed. Boston, Massachusetts, 2011. 150-151. Print.// //“Boston Tea Party Historical Society.”// Boston-Tea-Party.org//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. [].// //“Did You Know? The Boston Tea Party.”// aol.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. [].// USHistory.org//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. .
 * __How did the colonists react to the Act or Event?__
 * __How did the colonists reaction effect the British?__
 * __How did the colonists reaction effect themselves?__
 * __What Followed the Tea Act?__