Tea Act - Definition and Overview

The Tea Act, passed in 1773, allowed the British East India Company to sell tea to the colonies without the usual colonial tax, thereby allowing them to undercut the prices of the colonial merchants and smugglers. Because many people, including John Hancock earned their living from smuggling, they did not like the monopoly created by the British East India Company. This act led to the Boston Tea Party where American colonists threw 342 crates of tea into the Boston Harbor. This act united the colonies even more in their frustrations against Britain, and was but one of the many causes of the American Revolution.

• The full text of the Tea Act (http://ahp.gatech.edu/tea_act_bp_1773.html)