The Boston Tea Party

American History Hit

History Hit

History, America

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today we're delving into our back catalogue and revisiting the topic of the Boston Tea Party...

On December 16th 1773, Bostonian colonists took a stand against the British Crown in the Boston Tea Party.

In this episode, we dive deep into the events of that evening in Boston Harbor. Don is joined by Benjamin Carp, the Daniel M. Lyons Professor of American History at Brooklyn College. Who was involved? What signalled the start of the event? And was it really a non-violent protest?

Benjamin is the author of ‘Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution’; ‘Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America’; and ‘The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution’

Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, it's Don.
0:01.6	Next year, 2006, marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
0:09.0	You'll be hearing the term semi-quincennial a lot, along with plenty about the long, messy,
0:14.7	ultimately inspiring story of the American Revolution.
0:17.9	So let's get a head start, shall we?
0:19.7	Today, we're going back to a cold
0:21.6	December night, December 16th, 1773, to be exact. To bear witness to a rebellious act,
0:28.7	the British called treason that Americans would come to celebrate, steeped, as it were,
0:33.9	in a hot revolutionary brew, the Boston Tea Party. On a frigid December night, a man rushes through the dark alleys and passageways of Boston, Massachusetts.
0:57.4	The harbor behind him, his way is lit only by the moon and the occasional glow from hearth fires and candlelight in people's homes.
1:05.9	His heart beats hard at his chest, adrenaline courses through his blood.
1:16.6	His body aches from the night's labors, his fingers and toes numbed from the cold. At home, finally, the man slips inside and lights a candle.
1:22.6	Briefly examining in a broken looking glass, his sooted face streaked with ochre paint,
1:28.3	the feathered headdress upon his crown.
1:31.3	He rips it off and washes himself clean.
1:34.3	No evidence can remain.
1:37.3	In years to come, this act of public protest in the harbor will be deemed heroic,
1:43.3	a courageous demonstration of colonial patriotism.
1:47.1	But for tonight,
1:48.2	the Boston Tea Party, as it will one day be known,
1:51.3	is a flagrant destruction of private property
1:53.8	and a serious act of treason against the British government.
	...

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