Page intentionally blank THE BOSTON TEA PARTY A H I S T O R Y P E R S P E C T I V E S B O O K Linda Crotta Brennan Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing Ann Arbor, Michigan www.cherrylakepublishing.com Consultants: Robert J. Allison, PhD, Chair and Professor, Department of History, Suffolk University; Marla Conn, ReadAbility, Inc. Editorial direction: Red Line Editorial Book design and illustration: Sleeping Bear Press Photo Credits: Library of Congress, cover (left), cover (right), 1 (left), 1 (right), 21; North Wind Picture Archives/AP Images, cover (middle), 1 (middle); Sarony & Major/ Library of Congress, cover, title; Sleeping Bear Press, 4; North Wind Picture Archives, 7, 10, 13, 14, 17, 22, 24, 28, 30; David Claypoole Johnston/Library of Congress, 19 Copyright ©2014 by Cherry Lake Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brennan, Linda Crotta. The Boston Tea Party / Linda Crotta Brennan. pages cm. – (Perspectives library) ISBN 978-1-62431-416-2 (hardcover) – ISBN 978-1-62431-492-6 (pbk.) – ISBN 978-1-62431-454-4 (pdf) – ISBN 978-1-62431-530-5 (ebook) 1. Boston Tea Party, Boston, Mass., 1773– Juvenile literature. I. Title. E215.7.B77 2013 973.3’115–dc23 2013006357 Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Please visit www.p21.org for more information. Printed in the United States of America Corporate Graphics Inc. July 2013 CLFA11 Table of Contents In this book, you will read about the Boston Tea Party from three perspectives. Each perspective is based on real things that happened to real people who lived in or near Boston in 1773. As you’ll see, the same event can look different depending on one’s point of view. Chapter 1 4 .................................................... Ann Clerk: Colonial Merchant’s Wife Chapter 2 14 ................................................. Thomas Brayson: British Soldier Chapter 3 22 ................................................. Jonathan Pierce: Patriot Activist Look, Look Again 30 ........................................ Glossary 31 .................................................... Learn More 31 ................................................. Index 32 ........................................................... About the Author 32 .................................... 1 Ann Clerk Colonial Merchant’s Wife E ngland tells us colonists the cost of the French and Indian War was high. The Seven Years’ War, as they called it in England, dragged on and on against the French, finally ending in 1763. In the end, England won the war and gained French Canada, Spanish Florida, and parts of India. Now Parliament needs us to pay taxes 4 to cover the cost of sending British soldiers here to defend the colonies and frontiers. This makes perfect sense to me. Taxes are paid in England, and our American men pay taxes that are collected by our own elected assemblies. We should also pay for the protection offered by these soldiers. But some colonists feel no need to pay the taxes or duties the British Parliament collects. They have smuggled goods, tax free, for a long time without penalty. I, like many here in the colonies, remain loyal to England and my king. Aren’t we of English Think about It stock? My great-grandparents were Determine the main point of born in England. And the British this paragraph and pick out soldiers did us service. They one piece of evidence that protected us from the raids of the supports it. French and their Indian allies. It is reasonable that we should pay for that protection through taxes to Parliament. 5 Others don’t agree with me though. When the British SECOND SOURCE Parliament enacted the Stamp Act back in 1765, there was an uproar. Find another source on the Stamp Act and compare The law put a tax on all printed the information provided material, from newspapers to playing there to the information in cards. These items were stamped as this source. proof that the tax was paid. It was the first time we colonists had been taxed directly by England. Before, only our local legislatures here in the colonies had directly taxed us. There was great outcry against “taxation without representation.” You see, colonists have no representatives in the British Parliament. People found it unfair that Parliament could vote to tax us when colonists did not have a voice in Parliament. I doubt the protesters would have been happy if we had been given representation. It was the tax they hated—money out of their greedy pockets. 6 Colonists protested against the Stamp Act. 7 Boston’s Sons of Liberty were born out of anger against this tax. Even my dear brother, James Hopkins, joined them. He has penned many an essay defending the colonists’ rights. He argues that we are the equals of Englishmen living in England. We should be given a say in creating the laws that affect us. The Sons of Liberty TfaTohnrhedme SNegodreno wtuso pY ofo ifogr rkhLg.ti ab Etnehvirezetne ySdt tuw apamarllsoyp t,a e Ai stptc sstap .at rrIgetiao apitdnr osotthbr Bgraoabrnuiltyigiz shbah et airgolualn nl1e 3.oi nrc ioBglioonsnatiolelyns. 8