Lord North Tea Policy

Lord North Tea Policy:

After the revocation of Townshend’s taxes, the colonists suffered from internal differences. Particularly the affluent Americans still had sympathy with England. They were against the riots, disturbances, and boycotts committed by the supporters of freedom because such activities damaged their business interests. The common Americans too were not much interested in getting complete independence from England. The common Americans wanted to work in his field or ship with freedom. But a small section of patriots and extremists wanted to prolong the conflict. They pointed out that as long as the tax on tea stood the principle of the rights of British Parliament over the colonists would exist and England would make a profitable use of that principle in the long run. Therefore, in order to gain the freedom of colonies they should vigorously oppose this detrimental principle. It was a coincidence that the strong nationalists got an ideal leader like Samuel Adams. Adams was courageous and intelligent. His style of expression was lucid and fearless. His articles contained great credibility and his speeches were very impressive. His chief aim was to make the Americans realize their own importance and stir them for revolution. For this purpose, he had recourse to writing and speeches. He published forty articles against England. Correspondence committees were organized according to his proposals. In November 1772, the first “Committee of Correspondence” was organized in Boston. “Samuel fanned the fire of public wrath till it was greatly inflamed by a blunder committed by the British government.”

The economic condition of the East India Company had deteriorated by 1773. The policies adopted by Robert Clive and Warren Hastings had transformed the company into a political organization instead of a commercial one and it was running at a great loss. There was a surplus stock of tea in the godowns of the East India Company in India and America. America, the major importer of tea, stopped importing tea from England but it procured it through smuggling which caused a loss to the British Exchequer. Tea was imported by America from India via England and it involved enough duty. Thus import of tea became very expensive because of the lengthy route and exorbitant duties. Because of these two reasons, the price of tea rose in America. In order to provide relief to the East India Company and discourage smuggling, the North government authorized the Company to export tea directly to America, and the British tax on tea was revoked. The new scheme would benefit both the company and the British government and America would get tea at cheap rates. But the colonists disliked any monopoly. The American businessmen sustained economic loss. The colonists condemned the North Tea Project bitterly by declaring it to be a new nuisance committed by the British government. They asserted that England wanted to continue its right of external taxation by exporting tea to America at cheap rates. A strong movement was launched against tea in the whole country.

Boston, the port of the Puritan colony of Massachusetts raised a very strong voice of protest against the North Tea Project. Under the guidance of Samuel Adams, a few Americans disguised as coolies boarded the ships of East India Company docked at Boston port, picked 340 boxes of tea, and consigned them to sea. This incident is known as the “Boston Tea Party”. A large section of the public supported this adventure tactily. Nobody dared to punish the defaulters.