Title: The Tea Party and Massachusetts COS
Original CoS Document (slug): the-tea-party-and-cos
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Created: 2023-12-08 08:37:27
Updated: 2023-12-20 03:00:00
Published: 2023-12-13 00:00:00
Converted: 2025-04-14T21:28:28.484094817
December 16 marks the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
The story of the Tea Party itself – the dissident group the Sons of Liberty assembling with other Bostonians en masse and dumping tea from British ships into Boston Harbor – and subsequent fallout is familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of American history in general and the Revolutionary era in particular. Some of the particulars of the events leading up to the Tea Party have a distinctly familiar ring.
Due to massive expenditures that funded a series of expensive overseas conflicts, the British government found itself deeply in debt in the mid-to-late 1700s. In an attempt to stanch the bleeding, Parliament adopted the Townshend Act of 1767, which placed a tax on several goods purchased by North American colonists, most notably the 1.2 million pounds of tea that British colonists were annually consuming.
The colonists believed this act unfair and demanded its repeal. The British government did repeal the taxes on most other goods except tea, and boycotts of British tea ensued. Parliament attempted to further appease their grumbling colonists (and prop up the floundering East India Company) with the Tea Act in 1773. This act permitted British firms to ship tea to North America duty-free at a reduced rate. However, the tax remained and resentment among colonists grew, particularly in Boston.
Opposition and anger spread further in June 1773 when the Boston Gazette published letters written by Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver. The letters, sent to British government officials, recommended that tax boycotts and protests be countered by curtailing the civil liberties of the colonists and severing the connection between the colonial government and local assemblies.
Both letters had been sent anonymously to Benjamin Franklin the previous December, who was in London in his capacity as an agent for the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Franklin relayed the letters to Samuel Adams, who in turn showed them to the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence. The First Continental Congress petitioned the British monarchy to withdraw Hutchinson and Oliver.
When in early October 1773 it was made public that the East India Company was sending 600 chests of tea to Boston (and the same amounts to New York and Philadelphia), a series of public meetings ensued in Boston. The Sons of Liberty organized a public meeting at the Liberty Tree near Boston Common to attempt to persuade British agents to send the tea back. About 500 people attended including Sam Adams, John Adams, and John Hancock. The agents refused.
Undeterred, two more public meetings – both at Faneuil Hall – were held in order to convince the British agents to reject the tea. Twice more they refused. Another meeting was scheduled for Faneuil Hall, but the momentum was such that the building could not hold the attendees, and it was moved to the Old South Meeting House. The agents again refused. By now, three British merchant ships – the Dartmouth, Beaver, and Eleanor were nearing the Harbor.
December arrived and more public meetings were held. The British government and its agents and officers in America would not budge. A final gathering at the Old South Meeting House was held on December 16. When it was clear that all requests to send the tea back to England would be denied, the Sons of Liberty, dressed as Native Americans in order to avoid recognition, rushed the harbor, boarded the ships, and dumped around 90,000 pounds of tea into the water.
While not all in the colonies were enamored with the Tea Party – George Washington considered the destruction of property an abomination wrought by an insane, riotous mob – it was one of the most consequential events that led to the Revolutionary War and the eventual formation of our republic and Constitution. The Constitution gives contemporary efforts to counter abuse of government power purchase in the form of Article V.
Now, 250 years later and in keeping with the tradition of the public meetings that marked the lead-up to the Boston Tea Party, Massachusetts Convention of States (MA COS) leaders and volunteers meet regularly in restaurants, taverns, and Legion halls to discuss the ever-expanding power of the central government and how to effectively engage our state representatives to support an Article V convention of states.
They explain and promote to their fellow citizens Article V, which allows for a peaceful, practical, and lawful outlet for a redress of grievances and course correction – no need to don disguises and rush the Harbor.
Because of such meetings and presence at public events (including our successful Surge Day at the State House), the list of individuals who have signed the COS petition has grown exponentially in Massachusetts. They have established correspondence with their representatives to urge them to support the COS resolution in the legislature and Massachusetts to the roster of states who have passed the resolution.
Presently, a group of dedicated MA COS team members meet each week via conference call to practice and perfect the testimony that will be delivered at the State House on Beacon Hill early next year in favor of the Article V resolution that has been proposed to the General Court. (Imagine the Sons of Liberty meeting via Slack – “Samuel Adams has joined the call”)
That testimony will take place near the scenes of the public meetings that preceded the Tea Party: Faneuil Hall, the Old South Meeting House, and the site of the Liberty Tree. The group will look to – as they successfully did in the previous legislative session – persuade a joint committee to approve the resolution for a possible vote by the whole of the General Court.
We at MA COS mark the semi quincentennial of the Boston Tea Party by continuing in the spirit of grassroots organization and preparation of our forefathers in resisting unacceptable overreach and pernicious penalties imposed by a distant government.
We admire and seek to advance the legacy of Massachusetts as a thought and action leader in the quest for liberty and limited government. By soon being present and accounted for on Beacon Hill to again peacefully and persuasively urge our representatives to work toward a more perfect union, we signal that Massachusetts can still be the hub of American liberty.