What event on December 16, 1773, involved Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty throwing tea into Boston Harbor?

The event that took place on December 16, 1773, is known as the Boston Tea Party. This was a significant act of protest against British taxation and the monopoly of the British East India Company on tea sales in the American colonies. Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty, a group of colonists who opposed British rule, organized this event to express their discontent with the Tea Act, which they viewed as an infringement on their rights and liberties.

During the Boston Tea Party, members of the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and boarded three British ships, where they proceeded to dump 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. This act of defiance was a pivotal moment in the buildup to the American Revolution, galvanizing colonists against British authority and leading to a series of punitive measures by the British government known as the Intolerable Acts. The direct action taken at the Boston Tea Party became a symbol of resistance and unity among the colonies against perceived injustices by the British crown.