Christopher S. Davis — The Boston Tea Party: Separating Myth from Reality after 250 Years

Christopher S. Davis

For 250 years the Boston Tea Party has captured our imagination, becoming one of the great American legends. In this session we will use primary sources and expert scholarship to dive deep into the details of the (in)famous destruction of the tea. We’ll examine the event itself and our memory of it by comparing artistic depictions to what really happened. Additionally, we’ll consider the broader crisis by watching resistance to the Tea Act first grow in the other colonies. We’ll then see Boston try to catch up and eventually go overboard (literally). We’ll look at the response to the destruction here and across the Atlantic. Then we’ll push on to the Second Boston Tea Party and the enactment of the Intolerable Acts.

By examining the details and dispelling the myths, we’ll strive to answer the question: What would it have been like to be standing on Griffin’s Wharf on the evening of December 16, 1773?