The Dartmouth Sails In

On November 27, 1773, a provocative notice appeared across the city of Boston. The notice announced that "detested tea" from the East India Company was sitting in the harbor on a ship called the Dartmouth, having arrived the previous day [source: Boston Tea Party]. The notice called on residents to protest the tea and called for a meeting in Faneuil Hall. By the time of the meeting, Faneuil Hall proved too small a venue, so the crowd moved to the Old South Meeting House, the biggest building in Boston at the time [source: The Old South Meeting House].

John Lamb
American School/The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images
John Lamb (1735-1800) Speaking at the Sons of Liberty Meeting at New York City Hall Concerning the Landing of British Tea in New York, December 17th 1773.

The meeting continued at the Old South Meeting House. The citizens decided that they would not allow the ship to unload its cargo and that they would not pay any duties, or taxes, on it. Instead, they demanded that the ship return the tea to England. They reached similar decisions about two other ships that would soon arrive, also carrying loads of tea. The protesters were so adamant about not letting the ships unload the tea that they assigned 25 civilians to guard the docks and sent out messages to neighboring towns. The townspeople -- or patriots as anti-British rebels eventually called themselves -- opposed allowing the tea to be unloaded because if that happened, they would still owe a duty even if the tea wasn't sold.

Alternatives to Tea
Throughout the colonies, people, particularly women, were encouraged to boycott tea, and American colonists found creative ways to replace British tea. Some smuggled in tea from Dutch merchants. New tea drinks were created: Indian tea, made from roots; Balsamic Hyperion, made from raspberry plant leaves; and Labrador tea, made from another local plant.

The Royal British governor, Thomas Hutchinson, responded by attempting to keep the ships in the harbor so that the tea could eventually be unloaded. Governor Hutchinson instructed his military commanders to prepare to use force to stop the ships from leaving without unloading the tea. He also requested that members of the Sons of Liberty, a group behind the protest, should be arrested and charged.

On November 30, 1773, several thousand colonists met once again at the Old South Meeting House to discuss the developing crisis. One man offered a compromise from the local merchants. The merchants said that they would receive the tea but not sell it, while they waited to hear more from the British government. The assembled colonists refused. Any offloading of the tea meant paying the tax -- the colonists' main grievance. At the meeting's end, the colonists resolved that "tea should never be landed in this province" [source: The Old South Meeting House].

Meanwhile, two other ships, the Eleanor and the Beaver, were sailing towards Boston loaded with tea. The Eleanor arrived on December 2, the Beaver followed five days later. The arrival of both ships raised the tensions in Boston. Between November 30 and the final, decisive meeting on December 14, many more meetings took place at the Old South Meeting House as the protesters debated a plan of action.