Quizzes

For its 250th anniversary, test your Boston Tea Party knowledge

There may be more to Boston’s most famous historical protest than you remember from your school days.

Boston Tea Party destroying tea in Boston Harbor December 16, 1773. Courtesy

By Peter Chianca

The Boston Tea Party, one of the most famous acts of political protest in history, has been a staple of elementary school social studies classes for centuries. For instance, in the third grade I created a diorama of it that involved little plastic Native American figures throwing Lipton tea bags over the side of a toy powerboat. It was the 1970s, and standards were low.

But a lot of what we might remember about the event that took place in Boston Harbor on Dec. 16, 1773, might not be entirely correct. For instance, many still believe the colonists were protesting the taxation (without representation!) of tea, when in actuality — according to The History Channel, which knows from such things — they were protesting a government bailout of the British East India Company, which allowed it to essentially monopolize the American tea market. Who knew?

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With that in mind, to mark the 250th anniversary of that day, here are a dozen questions about the inner workings of one of the most famous historical events ever to happen in Boston’s backyard (among a backyard that’s full of them).