What prompted the Boston tea act

The Boston Tea Party was due to the high taxes on tea. Instead of buying the tea, the Colonists threw the tea into the Boston Harbor.

The British government had decided that the British colonists living in America should contribute to the cost of their protection from the Indians, the French and the Dutch. The Stamp Act of 1765 introduced new taxes on goods imported from Britain. The colonist objected on the grounds that they had no representation in the House of Commons. Taxation without representation. John Hancock and others attempted to evade the new taxes by smuggling tea from elsewhere and was arrested and charged (but let off). In response he organized a boycott of British tea. The British responded by allowing British merchants to sell tea duty free at half the price the American merchants charged. This cost Hancock and the other tea smugglers dearly. Eventually an armed gang calling itself the "Sons of Liberty" attacked the ships of the British East India Company in Boston harbor and destroyed a million dollars worth of tea. John Hancock was charged with High Treason.