We all know that on December 16, 1773 protestors boarded the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver,  ships of the East India Company, and threw their cargo of tea into the Boston Harbor but this story neither begins nor ends in Boston.  The idea for the acts of defiance against the British Empire was birthed in Philadelphia at Independence Hall, On December 25, 1776, residents of Philadelphia had their own peaceful Tea Party.  In fact, there were protest and vandalism against East India Company tea shipments (and their taxes) in New York, Philadelphia, Edenton, and Charleston.

The idea of rejecting British tea shipments and boycotting the East India Company and its monopoly on the trade had its roots in a meeting held at Independence Hall on October 16, 1773.  Several prominent men, including Benjamin Rush and Thomas Mifflin, gathered to draft the eight Philadelphia Resolutions. These resolutions told the British crown that Pennsylvania would mount a boycott of tea.  The Philadelphia Resolutions appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette on October 20 and laid out a list of eight grievances against the British government.

The Philadelphia Resolutions; October 16, 1773

1. That the disposal of their own property is the inherent right of freemen; that there can be no property in that which another can, of right, take from us without our consent; that the claim of Parliament to tax America is, in other words, a claim of right to levy contributions on us at pleasure.

2. That the duty imposed by Parliament upon tea landed in America is a tax on the Americans, or levying contributions on them without their consent.

3. That the express purpose for which the tax is levied on the Americans, namely for the support of government, administration of justice, and defense of his Majesty’, dominions in America, has a direct tendency to render assemblies useless and to introduce arbitrary government and slavery.

4. That a virtuous and steady opposition to this ministerial plan of governing America is absolutely necessary to preserve even the shadow of liberty and is a duty which every freeman in America owes to his country, to himself, and to his posterity.

5. That the resolutions lately entered into by the East India Comy. any to send out their tea to America, subject to the payment of duties on its being landed here, is an open attempt to enforce this ministerial plan and a violent attack upon the liberties of America.

6. That it is the duty of every American to oppose this attempt.

7. That whoever shall, directly or indirectly, countenance this attempt or in any wise aid or abet in unloading, receiving, or vending the tea sent or to be sent out by the East India Company while it remains subject to the payment of a duty here, is an enemy to his country.

8. That a committee be immediately chosen to wait on those gentlemen who, it is reported, are appointed by the East India Company to receive and sell said tea and request them, from a regard to their own characters and the peace and good order of the city and province, immediately to resign their appointment.

Pennsylvania Gazette, October 20, 1773

Three weeks later, a similar group met at Faneuil Hall in Boston and it adopted the Philadelphia Resolutions. 

“That the sense of this town cannot be better expressed than in the words of certain judicious resolves, lately entered into by our worthy brethren, the citizens of Philadelphia,”  

— Sons of Liberty, Boston, December 1773

On December 25, the ship Polly, carrying 697 chests of tea, docked at the port in Chester, where it was met by several Philadelphia gentlemen who intercepted the captain and escorted him back to Philadelphia.  The next day, a meeting was held at the State House (Independence Hall) to discuss what should be done with the ship. It was attended by over 6,000 people, which made it the largest mass gathering ever held in the colonies at the time.  The group decided that the tea should be refused and that the Polly should be sent back down the Delaware River. The captain eventually agreed, upon threat of being tarred and feathered, to return to his ship and sail back to its port of origin in England.

In Boston, the protest became violent as party of men dressed as Indians dumped the tea chest’s contents into the harbor.  In Philadelphia and Charleston, the simple threat of violence was more than enough to turn the ships around.  In Edenton the protest was made not by the Sons of Liberty but by their wives in a public and celebratory manner in Gov Tryon’s Chambers where they told him that they were boycotting ALL English imports (tea, textiles, sugar, etc.) until this “stupidity” ended.

But it’s the Boston incident that we, and Parliament remember; and because of the damage done, in April 1774, the British Parliament passed the Coercive (or Intolerable) Acts, which punished Massachusetts for the Tea Party.  Philadelphians, however, saw these acts as a punishment targeted at ALL the colonies.

“The Flame of Liberty in North America shall not be extinguished. Cruelty and Oppression and Revenge shall only serve as Oil to increase the Fire,”

Benjamin Franklin

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