1770年3月“波士顿惨案”发生后，北美人民掀起了更大规模的反英斗争。英国殖民当局被迫作出了一些让步，英军退出了波士顿，1770年取消了唐森德法案，但保留了一项每磅3便士的茶叶入口税。

北美人民对此十分不满，视之为英国暴政的象征，所以，从1770年起，北美人民又掀起不饮茶运动，以示抗议。殖民地的一些商人则用走私的办法运茶叶到北美。当时，正值英国东印度公司濒于破产，为了帮助该公司卖掉它所储存的近8000吨茶叶，缓和公司的财政困难，英国政府在1773年特别通过了一项救济东印度公司的茶叶条例，准许该公司在北美殖民地以廉价销售积压茶叶的特权，并只对东印度公司征收轻微的茶税，这批茶叶的价格因此比走私茶叶便宜50％，与此同时，殖民政府又重申了禁止购买走私茶叶的规定，这便引起茶叶走私者的恐慌，他们以爱国主义为口号发动群众，抵制东印度公司的茶叶来北美殖民地销售。

有一批波士顿青年还在一个绰号“走私王”的人支持下组织了波士顿茶党。

1773年12月，东印度公司满载茶叶的船只开进波士顿港，并拒绝当地市民要其离港的要求，坚持卸货。

12月16日晚，波士顿茶党的一些人乔装成印第安人，踏上东印度公司的茶船，把价值1.5万英镑的342箱茶叶全部倾倒到大海之中。

这一事件反映了北美人民要求民族独立的正义要求。

波士顿倾茶事件(The Boston Tea Party)是发生在1773年12月16日的政治示威，因北美人民不满英国殖民者的统治，当地居民塞缪尔·亚当斯率领60名自由之子化妆成印第安人潜入商船，把船上价值约1.5万英镑的342箱(约为18,000磅)茶叶全部倒入大海，来对抗英国国会，最终引起著名的美国独立战争。

The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea coming into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and other political protests often refer to it.

The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act for a variety of reasons, especially because they believed that it violated their right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. He apparently did not expect that the protestors would choose to destroy the tea rather than concede the authority of a legislature in which they were not directly represented.

The Boston Tea Party was a key event in the growth of the American Revolution. Parliament responded in 1774 with the Coercive Acts, which, among other provisions, closed Boston's commerce until the British East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea. Colonists in turn responded to the Coercive Acts with additional acts of protest, and by convening the First Continental Congress, which petitioned the British monarch for repeal of the acts and coordinated colonial resistance to them. The crisis escalated, and the American Revolutionary War began near Boston in 1775.

the Tea Act of 1773：
英国政府于1773年颁布《茶税法》企图垄断北美的茶叶生意，他们给予英属东印度公司在北美倾销茶叶的专卖权。此举激起了殖民地人民的强烈反对。
Parliament had granted the company a loan of public funds and had also passed the Tea Act of 1773, which allowed the company to ship tea directly to the colonies, thereby eliminating the British duty and reducing handlingcosts. This alarmed American merchants.

波士顿倾茶事件 Boston Tea Party：
为了阻止东印度公司向殖民地倾销的茶叶上岸，12月16日夜晚，“自由之子社”的部分成员（波士顿人）组成了“茶叶党”，化装成印第安人登船，登上三艘停泊在港口的英国运茶船，将价值9万美元的342箱茶叶抛进海湾。

《1774年不可容忍法》
波士顿倾茶事件后英议会通过了《1774年不可容忍法》，规定受殖民地人指控的英国官员只能在英国受审；英国可强行进驻殖民地住宅；取消马萨诸塞的自治权，封闭俄亥俄以北的土地划归魁北克。 《1774年不可容忍法》激起了殖民地的愤慨。大陆会议于1774年10月对其无理要求提出书面抗议。

茶叶危机 tea crisis
就是波士顿倾茶事件和由此引发的英国强加给殖民地的4条intolerable acts，是以整个连续发展的事件总体。