Boston Tea Party turns 250 years old with reenactments of the revolutionary protest
Patriotic mobs and harbor tea-dumping returned to Boston on Saturday as the city marked the 250th anniversary of the revolutionary protest that preceded America’s independence.
The commemoration of the Boston Tea Party included scheduled reenactments of the throwing of tea leaves into the city’s harbor and community meetings that preceded the defiant act on Dec. 16, 1773 — though this time, the symbolic protest was aided by spotlights and microphones. City officials were expecting thousands of visitors for the celebration.
Crowds who gathered to watch the reenactment quickly joined in, shouting “Huzzah!” along with the costumed actors as boxes of tea were dumped in the harbor. Later, they resoundingly booed an actor who read King George III’s order closing the bay, and they cheered as narrators detailed the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
Tea for the reenactment was supplied by the East India Co., the same British company that was at the center of the raucous dispute.
Funny... based on the photo they appear to be dressed like colonial Americans.
But the Tea Partiers weren't dressed like that.
For some reason, they were dressed like indigenous Americans.
Can't imagine why this reenactment left that key detail out.
This was my first thought too.
I think if we looked at the Boston Tea Party with today's eyes, we might see it as what it really was: a bunch of rich, white racists who didn't want to pay taxes and so they threw a tantrum and vandalized a bunch of private property.
Couldn’t they have protested some other way, without destroying property? At least, that was the question asked by the US oligarchs during the protests in 2020.
Yes the right wing of America today would have sided with the British at the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre. It's hilarious to confront them with it. Two of my favorite topics to talk about with conservatives because when I inevitably lead them to dig into their position on the relevant subjects, I'll start describing these events while they maintain their positions and then name the events.
They know from their school days which side they are supposed to be on but cannot reconcile the fact that they aren't. Morons.
They could have. But they didn't. Just like the Jan 6 protestors.
The difference is that the Boston Tea Partiers were on the winning side of history. If the British had won the American Revolutionary War, then we'd be talking about those anti-social racists who ruined a bunch of tea because they were pissy about paying for it.
And if the Jan 6 terrorists had succeeded in overthrowing the government, future generations might end up learning about them as revolutionary heroes.
You obviously don’t understand that the tea party was an act of property destruction of a corporation that was given preferential treatment by the government. An “eat the rich” act against corporatism. We need more of that today yet here you are completely misrepresenting it and defending the mega corporations.
https://fee.org/resources/about-that-famous-tea-party/
The second image in the carousel is a drawing of the event, which shows the Tea Partiers wielding what looks like tomahawks.
Didn't come up in the article tho.
You seem to know the history well. Why were the Tea Partiers dressed like indigenous people?
Plausible deniability.
Racism
Are you looking at a different photo than I am? Because they're dressed normally in the AP article
I was going to upload a screenshot of the image to show you but apparently image uploads are temporarily disabled on lemmy.world
I'm sick and tired of it being called the 'American Revolution'. More like the "American under new management".
The rebellion was started over taxes to pay for a war, and the first thing the new government did was put down a rebellion started over taxes to pay for the war. We just traded one George for another and saved Americans from the subjugation and horror suffered by Canadians and Australians.
The truth is that England defeated all the European powers that could threaten the colonies and America said thanks for defending us, it's made you weak and us strong, now guess what?
The French, the Haitians, and the Bolsheviks knew how to throw a proper revolution.
The Haitian revolt while initially successful led to nothing but utter tragedy and disaster that continues to affect the country to this day. France extorted them into a debt that couldn't possibly be paid, and multiple other parties (including American banks that still currently exist) got in on the action. Haiti overthrew its slave masters and broke their chains only to spend most of its history with its former master's boot on its throat.
I'm sorry but I'm going to need a credible source from you to backup this claim and more clarification and context
I think that was satire and they were saying that Canadians and Australians ended up with better governance by gaining their independence via peaceful means rather than violent ones.
IE: When your founding narrative is the violence is the answer to problems, you continue to govern that way. When it is that peaceful negotiations that achieved independence, you continue to govern that way.
USA: presidents assassinated 4 and 2 more wounded in failed attempts.
Canadian PMs assassinated: Zero.
Australian PMs assassinated: Zero
The heroic American revolution: a terrorist campaign by slaveowning religious lunatics considered too extreme for society, offended by paying less than their share of a war fought on their behalf, who then immediately allied with the country that war was fought against.
Said newly birthed country then went on to commit a genocidal psychopathic blitz through an entire continent wiping out 99.9% of the native population justified by religious insanity.
Hell yeah.
Today I learned the East India Co. Still exists!
Are you kidding me? Of course it does. Too big to fail, ever.
I thought that would be the case, but I never hear anything about it ever apart from in a historical context.
I also would have expected a rebrand or two due to said history.
According to Wikipedia it dissolved in 1874. In what form does it still exist?
If BBC is to be believed, it's been surviving as practically just a name until 2005, when it was acquired by an Indian entrepreneur and turned into a luxury goods seller.
Yahoo seems to corroborate that this is the company in question.
Looks like this is their site: https://www.theeastindiacompany.com/
So it isn't really related to the treacherous east India trade company, just has the same name. It's cool that the company name is owned by an actual Indian for a change.
Read the article buddy.
But it was dissolved in 1874 pal.
The real master of puppet behind Trump, not Vlad!
Reading up on the boston tea party is fascinating. Apparently, colonists were angry that their tea was too cheap.
Really sets the stage for the next 250 years of American politics. The working class believes making their rulers richer the fastest at their own expense is a good thing.
OK, I'm not American so I guess this hits differently, but it was a dispute about TAX. Like JFC
It was a dispute about colonial representation. Taxation was the lens by which representation was questioned.
Well, for the most part.
Nothing says entitled so much as throwing a valuable commodity into the ocean to celebrate someone who did the same thing for much more important reasons centuries ago. Could've just thrown empty boxes but they just wasted a tonne of tea for no reason.
https://fee.org/resources/about-that-famous-tea-party/
This isn't true. The EIC from 250 years ago disbanded in the mid-1800s. The modern EIC is a totally separate company founded by an Indian guy around a decade ago as a luxury consumer brand.