What was the perception of the average British person of the Boston Tea Party?

Question: What was the perception of the average British Person of the Boston Tea Party.

General Answer

The Boston Tea party was a reaction against Royal Monopoly supported by the Tea Act of 1773, not new taxes. The Tea Act of 1773 reduced the cost of tea below the price colonial tea smugglers could compete with. The British were trying to re-assert their long standing Tea Monopoly for the East India Company which was nearly bankrupt due to all the smuggling both in the British Colonies and domestically in Britain itself. By reforming their tax policy, making their disburs*m*nt more efficient, and undercutting the price of the dominant black market tea which controlled 90% of the colonial market, the British Parliament hoped to increase it's control over the colonies. Further the Tea Act shifted the use of the existing Tea Tax, which now was substantially reduced, to fund expenses in the Colonies which the British thought was both reasonable and would not draw down the protests which defined the earlier Stamp Act of 1765. The Tea act both halved the existing tax and transferred that revenue to pay for Royal appointed colonial governmental officials like the governors. These governors salaries were traditionally paid for by the colonial legislatures. By paying these appointed local officials directly from the crown, although still with colonial money, the Sons of Liberty believed the local legislatures were weakened as now their governorships were more loyal to London than their Colonies.

The response from the Son's of Liberty, funded by tea smugglers, was to threaten and physically intimidate colonial merchants not to accept the cheap tea. This was very effective and no colonial merchants would risk taking delivery of this legal very inexpensive tea. The tea could not even be offloaded from the ships which brought it to the colonies. This lead to the British tea being consolidated in ships in Boston Harbor for weeks unable to be offloaded. Being thus consolidated it was a target for the Son's of Liberty and resulted in the Boston Tea Party. If the East India Company's legal tea was permitted to reach the Colonies market, it would undercut the lucrative black market enterprise of the Son's of Liberty's primary benefactor, John Hanc**k. John Hanc**k made his fortune selling smuggled goods, especially tea, would become the first and most prominent signer of the Declaration of Independence just under 3 years removed from the Boston Tea Party. It would have also strengthened the crown's control over the Colonies at the expense of Colonial legislatures and Colonial merchants.

In Boston itself the reaction to the Tea Party was pretty reserved. The ships which were targeted by the Son's of Liberty were proximal to Royal Navy ships moored in the harbor and the harbor was patrolled by Royal Soldiers, yet neither had any reaction to the night time raid. Now you can say this is because it was in the middle of the night. However, the day after the Boston Tea Party the Son's of liberty discovered that much of the tea thrown into Boston Harbor was still floating on the surface of the water in it's water tight containers; this prompted the Son's of Liberty to return in broad daylight, with the crews of the Royal Navy ships watching... and sink the containers in broad daylight. Still no reaction from the British military which was all over the Boston Harbor and it's docks.

When news from Boston of the destruction of private property arrived back in Britain, it was not covered by the British Press, and thus the average Britain would have been unaware of the event. Britain was the larger market for smuggled Dutch tea, much larger than were the colonies so the average Britain's sympathies might have been mixed. However since the Tea Act only reduced the costs of tea in the Colonies and did not effect the price in Britain, such a Britain might have been unaware of the Tea Act altogether and its role in inspiring the Boston Tea Party.

However, the average Britain who was taxed at a higher rate than his colonial brothers was generally unsympathetic to the Colonial demonstrations over taxation from the Stamp Act which occurred almost 8 years before the Tea Act. The Stamp Act was passed to modestly contribute to the expense of the Seven Years War or French and Indian War. A war started in the Colonies by future American President George Washington. A war which protected the Colonies and severely impacted the British purse.

The more pertinent reaction was not from the average Britain but from the British Parliament. The reaction from Parliament would transform the Boston Tea Party into the historical event most Americans remember. Parliament in reaction would reconsider their long policy of appeas*m*nt to the Colonies mob eruptions, and respond with the Coercive Acts(Dec 1773). The Colonies would call them the "Intolerable Acts".

• Closed Boston Harbor until the Boston Tea Party destroyed goods were paid for
• Modified Massachusetts charter of 1691 to end local participation in government. Put Massachusetts under Military rule, and outlawed town meetings.
• Administration of Justice Act, Allowed British Official charged with capital crimes in the Colonies to be tried for these crimes back in Britain and not answerable to Colonial Courts.
• Quartering Act, Allowed the British Military confiscate occupied buildings in the colonies for their use.
• The Quebec Act, removed all the territory and fur trade between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from possible colonial jurisdiction and awarded it to the province of Quebec.

The reaction to these acts would magnify the Boston Tea Party into the spark for the Colonies to organize their own underground government (Continental Congress first conviened 1774), The Declaration of Independence(July 4th, 1776) and ultimately the Revolutionary War.

Detailed Answer

Important Dates.

1763                    Seven Years War(French and Indian War) ends
1765                    British Parliament Passes the Stamp Act Tax
1766                    British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.
1767                    Parliament passes Indemnity Act, 
Mar 5th, 1770           Boston Massacre
1773                    British Parliament passes the Tea Act 
Dec 16th, 1773          Boston Tea Party
1774                    Parliament passes the Intolerable Acts, 
                           a series of acts designed to punish Boston
                           and the Colonies for the Boston Tea Party.
Sept 1774               The Continental Congress's first meeting, 
                           calls upon the British Parliament to
                           repeal the Intolerable Acts.

Important Facts.

• The Stamp Act(1765 - 1766) was the first direct, internal tax that Parliament had ever levied on the colonists. It was repealed after British officials trying to enforce it were subject to physical intimidation and mob violence, making it's enforcement impossible.
• The Indemnity Act was the first attempt by Parliament to save the British East India Company which was one of England's largest companies, but was on the verge of collapse due to much cheaper smuggled Dutch tea. Part of the purpose of the entire series of Townshend Acts was to save the company from imploding.
• The biggest market for illicit tea was England—by the 1760s the East India Company was losing £400,000 per year to smugglers in Great Britain[
• At the time of the Boston Tea Party American colonists consumed, on average, 2 to 3 cups of tea each day. This equaled approximately two million pounds of tea among 3 million colonists each year.
• It was estimated that approximately 90% of the tea being drank by American colonists was smuggled.
• The Tea Act(1773) eight years after the failed Stamp Act, was not a tax. Tea sold in the colonies prior to the Tea Act was required to travel to Britain first for export, where it was taxed. Then shipped to the colonies were it was taxed again. The Tea Act allowed the tea most of which came from China or India to be shipped directly to the US, thus cutting the effective tax in half and lowering overall the consumer cost significantly.
• Shipping companies who purchased tea from the East Company for distribution to Colonial Merchants had tons of rotting tea in colonial warehouses which they could not sell due to colonial hostilities over taxes. The Tea act allowed the East India Company to dump this tea onto the market at rock bottom prices, undercutting all illegal competition.
• The Tea Act so reduced the cost of British tea within the colonial marketplace that it made British tea cheaper than smuggled tea.
• The Boston Tea Party(Dec 16th, 1773) was in reaction to The Tea Act(1773)
• The Son's of Liberties Leader who organized the Boston Tea Party was Samuel Adams cousin of John Adams the second President of the United States.
• Samuel Adams was strongly associated with the another founding father and tea smuggler, John Hanc**k. A joke at the time was the two were so close that when Samuel Adams wrote a letter, John Hanc**k licked the stamps.
• John Hanc**k was a wealthy shipping magnate, who made the bulk of his money illegally by smuggling tea, and almost single handedly financed all of the early protests against Britain in Boston.

When news of the Boston Tea Party arrived back in London, the event was barely mentioned in the British Press. The people on the streets of Britain were were not initially overly concerned with the destruction of property which occurred in Boston Harbor. What magnified the event was the perception of Parliament. From Parliament's perspective they had originally mishandled the colonies and that is what resulted in this further dispute. Parliament had originally asked the Colonies to contribute modestly for the war Britain undertook on their behalf with the Stamp Act. Parliament had reacted to the Colonies negative and volatile response by repealing the Stamp Act in it's first year. This time Parliament decided to take a different tact. This time Parliament's reaction would come to be known in the Colonies as the Intolerable Acts. The Colonists reaction to these series of five acts designed to punish the colonies, lead directly to the meeting of the first Continental Congress in 1774, and ultimately the Revolutionary War.

News Reaches London of the Boston Tea Party
The news of the Boston Tea Party reached London, England on January 20, 1774, and as a result the British shut down Boston Harbor until all of the 340 chests of British East India Company tea were paid for. This was implemented under the 1774 Intolerable Acts and known as the Boston Port Act. In addition to the Boston Port Act, the Intolerable Acts also implemented the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, the Quartering Act, and the Quebec Act. American colonists responded with protests and coordinated resistance by convening the First Continental Congress in September and October of 1774 to petition Britain to repeal the Intolerable Acts.

Sources:

• Boston Tea Party Facts
• Tea Act
• Samuel Adams
• Boston Tea Party
• John Hanc**k
• John Adams
• Indemnity Act
• Sons of Liberty
• The Boston Tea Party :Aftermath
• Boston Tea Party Historical Society