On this day 250 years ago, more than 6000 Patriots gathered in Philadelphia to let the captain of the Polly know how they would react if he unloaded his cargo of tea. This was the largest meeting in Colonial America up to this point. The next day the Polly and its cargo of tea would begin their return trip to England.
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On Christmas Day 250 years ago, the Polly sailed up the Delaware River to dock at Chester, 20 miles south of Philadelphia. The Polly was carrying 697 chests of tea and its captain would learn the next day the greeting that awaited him in Philadelphia.
Merry Christmas All!
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On this day 250 years ago, Paul Revere carried news of the Boston Tea Party to Philadelphia.
Source: https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/04/paul-reveres-other-rides/
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On this day 250 years ago, the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-letter published an article describing the Destruction of the Tea six days earlier. This is one of the best contemporaneous descriptions of the Boston Tea Party.
Source: https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/pf/declaring/bostonTeaParty.cfm
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On this day 250 years ago Royal Customs officials in Charleston seized 257 chests of tea from the London for non-payment of duties. The tea was stored in the basement of the Exchange building, where it would remain until combat began in the Revolution.
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On this day 250 years ago John Hancock wrote his agent in London about the dumping of the tea in Boston Harbor: “No one circumstance could possibly have taken place more effectively to unite the colonies than this maneuver of the tea.”
Source: https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-boston-tea-party/
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On this day 250 years ago Paul Revere was on horseback carrrying important news to his fellow Patriots. Longfellow wrote a poem about only one of his many rides but Revere was the main rider who carried news from the Boston Committee of Correspondence to other Committees. He rode out of Boston on December 17 to carry news of the Destruction of the Tea to New York and Philadelphia and no doubt towns along the way. He would arrive in New York the next day.
Source: https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/04/paul-reveres-other-rides/
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On this day 250 years ago at midnight, Patriots in Marshfield, Massachusetts confiscated tea from the Ordinary as a protest against the Crown, emulating the actions of their fellow Patriots in Boston three days earlier. The Ordinary is still standing in Marshfield today, located at 2000 Ocean Street. After taking the tea, the Patriots knelt in prayer and ceremoniously burnt the tea on a large rock, which became known as “Tea Rock Hill.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Marshfield,_Massachusetts#cite_note-52
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On this day 250 years ago, the North Carolina Assembly organized its Committee of Correspondence, naming Cornelius Harnett as Chairman and John Harvey, Robert Howe, Richard Caswell, Edward Vail, John Ashe, Joseph Hewes, Samuel Johnston, and William Hooper as members. These men all ended up leading the Patriots and were the Founding Fathers of North Carolina.
Sources: https://www.ncpedia.org/committees-correspondence
https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/deep-dives/committees-of-correspondence/
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On this day 250 years ago mass meetings were held in both Charleston and New York City to make plans for blocking the sale of British East India Company tea.
A general meeting of the inhabitants of Charleston chaired by George Gabriel Powell met in the Exchange to address the tea aboard the ship London in Charleston Harbor. The meeting adopted resolutions that tea “ought not to be landed, received, or vended in this Province” and that “all Persons whatever was forbid to purchase [tea], on pain of forfeiting the Resentment of the people of this Province.” [18th Century capitalization was idiosyncratic to say the least; why they capitalize “Persons” but not “people” in the same sentence is beyond me.]
On the same day 2000 people met at the city hall in New York to discuss proposals for blocking tea onboard the Nancy on its way to New York, but did not adopt any resolutions.
Source: Norton, Mary Beth, 1774 the Long Year of Revolution at 31-32, 37-38.
On This Day In The Revolution 