Boston Tea Party Etiquette
Today’s post is written by Monique Politowski, and is part of her ongoing series on the Federalists.
Today is the 238th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. On December 16, 1773, men dressed as Native Americans and wearing disguises, destroyed British owned tea by throwing it into the water of Griffin’s Wharf in Boston. Archives II has a copy of a lithograph by Sarony & Major that provides a 19th century visual interpretation of the event:
There were over one hundred participants in the destruction of the tea, and one of them was Nathanael Greene, George Washington’s most trusted general. Their military partnership is documented in the Letters from Major General Nathanael Greene, 1776-1785 and in Letters of Nathanael Greene, with Various Papers Relating to the Quartermaster’s Department, 1778-1780. It was not easy to connect Greene directly to the campaign because his name is commonly misspelled as “Nathaniel.” It is rude not to give proper credit where credit is due, and that is why he is being recognized in this post as a contributor to one of the most famous American protests. The Boston Tea Party was a symbolic milestone on the road to the American Revolution, and Great Britain’s implementation of the Coercive Acts in response to the destroyed tea prompted the organization of the First Continental Congress. It seemed that the difference between established British tea etiquette and emerging American etiquette became significant after the “Tea Party.”
The Papers of the Continental Congress and the Miscellaneous Papers of the Continental Congress contain Greene’s correspondence with Federalists John Jay and Alexander Hamilton during the Revolution regarding resolutions of Congress concerning military transport, personnel, and the funds needed to support the war.
Image courtesy of NARA's digitization partner, fold3.
Image courtesy of NARA's digitization partner, fold3.
Other later correspondence by Jay and Hamilton within these collections discusses commerce with Britain, most importantly the tea trade.
Comments
Monique P December 19, 2011 at 9:54 am
Is it a case of mistaken identity? I have sources that disagree. Perhaps we should collaborate to find out once and for all.
J. L. Bell December 17, 2011 at 7:11 pm
As important as Gen. Nathanael Greene was, the man credited with being at the Boston Tea Party was a Bostonian who spelled his named “Nathaniel Greene.”