The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

158 THE FREEMAN Marchever, was the Tea Act in May of1773. The purported intent of thisact was to rescue the East IndiaCompany. That company was indire straits, on the verge of bankruptcy,and sorely in need of amarket for its tea. Though importshad picked up in the Americanmarket, it is generally believedthat most of the tea consumedin America came from theDutch; by buying such tea thethe colonists unlawfully evadedthe tax on it. The Tea Act wasdevised to make tea from the EastIndia Company almost irresistible.It enabled that company tosell tea directly in America, relievingit of the necessity of sellingit first at auction to merchantsin England. "By eliminating themiddleman . . . the company wasable to sell tea in the coloniescheaper than in England," eventhough it was still taxed in the colonies."More significantly, its teanow undersold that of the Dutchsmugglers."16A Monopoly, plus TaxesThe British were about to succeedin doing what John Dickinsonindicated to be the danger.They were going to establish amonopoly for a taxed item, somethingwhich could not be compet-16 John C. Miller, Origins of the AmericanRevolution (Boston: Little, Brownand Co., 1943), p. 339.itively produced in America, butwas very popular. It is likely thathad Parliament contented itselfwith establishing a monopoly itmight have got away with it. Butthe fact that tea was taxed entangledthe monopoly question withtaxation-without-representation.The objections which had beenraised before had now a freshexemplar; but now Americanswere to be seduced into complianceby a lower price.It did not happen. True, theEast India.Company caused chestsof tea to be loaded on many shipsfor America, and these put intoport at Boston, Philadelphia, NewYork, and Charleston. The colonistswere ready for them; theywould not buy or consume thetea, nor would they allow it to belanded if they could help it. Themost dramatic opposition occurredat Boston, where Bostoniansdressed as Indians boarded theships and heaved the chests intothe water. Patriots prevented teafrom being landed in Philadelphia.It was landed and transferred tothe customs house at Charleston;there it stayed until war came.The Intolerable AdsThis time Parliament did notback down when confronted bycolonial resistance. The majoritydetermined, instead, on a policy ofcoercion, a policy backed by four