1773 – Tariffs and the American Revolution

British taxation of the American Colonies without Colonial representation in Parliament prompted Colonial protests, boycotts of British products and acts of civil disobedience. But it is a tariff issue that brings tensions to a head in Boston, when Governor Thomas Hutchinson insists ships carrying Chinese tea dock in Boston Harbor.

A Colonial group known as the Sons of Liberty, thinly disguised as American Indians, boards the docked ships and dumps the tea overboard. The event becomes a milestone in the American Colonies’ road to independence. (© AP Images)