Opinion | The Joy of the Boston Tea Party, 250 Years Later

A wooden ship called the Dartmouth sailed into Boston Harbor 250 years ago carrying 114 chests of East India Co. tea that brewed, in a way, the American Revolution.

On Dec. 16, 1773, fewer than 20 days after the Dartmouth’s arrival from London, dozens of Bostonians climbed aboard and dumped the tea into the harbor, protesting a Parliament-imposed tea tax. The event was recognized immediately as a world-changing event by perceptive observers. “The most magnificent Movement of all,” John Adams wrote in his diary the next day.