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Title: Liberty, Taxes, and Tea

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/give-me-libertea|give-me-libertea]]

Login Required to view? No

Created: 2020-03-20 18:18:22

Updated: 2020-03-30 03:00:00

Published: 2020-03-23 00:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T21:08:52.724353648


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A cup of hot tea is something I always enjoy. These days of social distancing, I'm drinking it by the pot.

My variety includes a box of 'les thes parfumes' gifted to me by a wonderful daughter. Each tube of tea has a story behind it.

{{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/26270/26270_original.JPG?593x395|Teas with stories}} 

Today as I sipped on 'The' Du Hammam,' I thought of the Boston Tea Party. If the colonists loved their tea the way I do, I can understand the revolt on taxes.

It wasn't just the taxes on something they loved so much. There was much more of a story to it than that.

A story of revolution disposes behind their tea tax. Britain was almost bankrupt after the Seven Years War, which led Parliament to tax the colonies.\\
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Resistance to taxes prompted a long list of acts intended to bring colonists into submission, culminating in the Boston Massacre.

At the same time, the British East India Company (which had taken control of Bengal and large areas of India) was facing bankruptcy.

The Bengal Famine of 1770 killed an estimated 10 million people under British rule. Meanwhile, an economic downturn in Europe caused a depression in trade.

To avoid bankruptcy, the British East India Company directors appealed to Parliament, which passed the Tea Act in 1773.

The Tea Act gave them an exemption from paying duties on tea imported to the American colonies but kept duties on tea from competitors, thereby undercutting local merchants and putting thousands out of work.

Colonists objected, because they had no representation in Parliament: "No taxation without representation."

{{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/26275/26275_original.JPG?600x400|Sons of Liberty with tea tax collector, American Heritage //Sons of Liberty// with tea tax collector. - American Heritage}}

The story behind their "liberty tea" (the Boston Tea Party) took place on December 16, 1773.\\
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Samuel Adams led a band of patriots called the Sons of Liberty, who disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians, from the South Meeting House toward Griffin's Wharf. There they threw 342 chests of British East India Company tea into Boston's harbor.

Furious at the Boston Tea Party, the king decided to punish Boston and imposed the Boston Port Act on March 7, 1774, effectively closing Boston's harbor till the cost of the tea was repaid.

This was the first of five Punitive Acts that ruined Boston's economy, causing stores to close and putting thousands out of work.

In enforcing the Boston Port Act, the British Commander-in-Chief in America General Thomas Gage ruled through martial law. He prevented citizens of Massachusetts from electing their own leaders and forbade town hall meetings without his permission.

This prompted the writers of the Bill of Rights to later insist on "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Massachusetts' citizens refused to stop their town hall meetings and passed more resolves against the king. The surrounding colonists rallied by sending food to Boston.

Upon hearing of the Boston Port Act, Thomas Jefferson drafted a Day of Fasting and Prayer Resolution to be observed in Virginia the same day the blockade was to commence in Boston.\\
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It passed unanimously, being supported by Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and George Mason. On the appointed Day of Fasting, June 1, 1774, George Washington wrote in his diary: "Went to church, fasted all day."

Outnumbered but courageous, our forefathers loved their tea and loved their liberty. They spent time rallying with one another and God to make certain that their God-given rights would not be taken from them. 

Does any of this ring familiar? This is our time to do the same. Get your tea out, call your fellow patriots, and rally to God and each other. Take this time at home to build the grassroots army and become aware of the local issues.

My state of Arkansas is fifth in the nation for highest taxes, yet is seventh lowest for per capita income. This is taxation without representation. Our governor has shut down all the restaurants and bars.

With an Article V convention, we can do what our forefathers did: win back our liberties from an overreaching government, steeped in so much bureaucracy that it chokes itself on each sip of tea.

Get involved, stay involved. Liber-tea for all!

//Some information courtesy of Bill Federer's American Minute.//