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Boston Tea Party Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Boston Tea Party Quizzes, Trivia

Boston Tea Party Trivia

Boston Tea Party Trivia Quizzes

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3 quizzes and 30 trivia questions.
1.
  10 Questions about Boston Tea Party    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A quiz all about the Boston Tea Party!
Average, 10 Qns, roobear, Sep 26 12
Average
roobear
7360 plays
2.
  Boston Tea Party    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
The Boston Tea Party ... Every American schoolchild learns the story. Test your knowledge.
Tough, 10 Qns, burika7, Oct 11 12
Tough
burika7
612 plays
3.
  A Tempest of a Tea Party    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Every American schoolchild is told the story of the Boston Tea Party. Patriots disguised as Indians started a revolution when they dumped that tea in the Boston Harbor. Test your knowledge of the specifics, and enjoy!
Tough, 10 Qns, deconstructor5, Sep 06 12
Tough
deconstructor5
735 plays
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Boston Tea Party Trivia Questions
1. The British imposed a tax on tea in the American colonies:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: to pay off the debt and to bail out the East India Company

The East India Company, Britain's largest enterprise, imported tea from India. But the company was almost bankrupt, couldn't pay its taxes and had huge stockpiles of tea going stale in their warehouses - largely due to the colonists' boycott of British tea.

2. The Boston Tea Party was at least partially caused by the tea tax the British imposed on the American colonies. Why did the British impose said tax?

From Quiz A Tempest of a Tea Party

Answer: To pay the national debt, to bail out the East India Company, and on principle

Britain had a national debt of 130 million pounds. No debt that large had been reached before that. Much of the debt came from defending the colonies from other nations, so they felt the colony should shoulder some of the debt. They had tried other taxes before, but the colony had managed to get rid of them. The tea tax was imposed to show that the British government had the power to enforce taxation on the colonies.

3. The Boston Tea Party was a protest against what?

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: Taxes

It was a protest against taxes. To do this, they threw tea (which was heavily taxed) into the harbor on December 16th, 1773.

4. The colonists hated the tax on tea because:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: of the principle of the thing

Remember the slogan "No taxation without representation". The Tea Act of 1773 would actually have lowered the cost of tea.

5. Why did the Colonists hate the tax so much?

From Quiz A Tempest of a Tea Party

Answer: They hated it on principle

The tea tax was only three pence per pound of tea. Since the average family drank about 10 pounds of tea a year, it was only thrity pence a year. It was actually cheaper because it let the East India Tea Company sell the tea to them directly, eliminating the middle man. The colonists were just angry about being taxed by the British government.

6. Who organized the Boston Tea Party?

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: The Sons of Liberty

The Sons of Liberty was an organization that worked together to try to stop British rule in colonial times.

7. The 150 men who took part in the Boston Tea Party disguised themselves as Native Americans. What they did NOT do was:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: wear reddish makeup and wear feathered war bonnets

Some images online and elsewhere show the men with reddish makeup, but that is historically inaccurate.

8. Who was King at the time of the Boston Tea Party?

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: George III

King George III was very greedy. In addition to all the money he already had, he levied taxes from his colonies.

9. When the Boston men took over the three ships and began throwing tea overboard:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: some of the British sailors helped them

There was no violence or burning, in fact it was done in very orderly and peaceful way.

10. The tea that was dumped into the harbor:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: piled up like large 'haystacks' in the shallow harbor

The Tea Party took place at low tide, and in fact the water at Griffin's Wharf was only two feet deep.

11. What happened to the tea that was dumped in the harbor?

From Quiz A Tempest of a Tea Party

Answer: Piled up like haystacks

It was low tide when the tea was dumped, so the water was only two feet deep. The tea was dumped out of the chests and rested on muck at the bottom of the harbor. As a consequence, the tea piled up like haystacks and sailors pushed the clumps out to sea.

12. What did the Sons of Liberty disguise themselves as when they threw tea into the harbor?

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: Mohawk Indians

They dressed up as Mohawk Indians and sang a song while they scattered tea into the harbor.

13. Samuel Adams, leader of the Sons Of Liberty and one of the chief instigators had once worked as a:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: tax collector

Samuel Adams a leader in the revolution and is credited to as "One of our Founding" fathers did serve briefly as a tax collector. He was known as being very lenient and resigned way before the Revolution began.

14. Samuel Adams was one of the chief instigators of the Boston Tea Party. What was his profession?

From Quiz A Tempest of a Tea Party

Answer: Tax Collector

Samuel was a tax collector, albeit a very lenient one.

15. At c. 2010 prices the approximate value of the tossed tea was:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: $1,000,000

The British throne was none to happy to lose a very hefty sum of cargo. Relations between the colonists and the British government became tense, at best, and may have paved the way to war.

16. In U.S. dollars of the early 21st century, what was the approximate value of the tossed tea?

From Quiz A Tempest of a Tea Party

Answer: $1,000,000

Obviously, adjustments for inflation over such a long period of time should be taken with a huge pinch of salt.

17. The type of tea hurled into the harbor was:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: Chinese

At the time almost all tea came from China.

18. What kind of tea was dumped in the harbor?

From Quiz A Tempest of a Tea Party

Answer: Chinese

Tea was not widely cultivated in India till the 19th century. Before that, most tea was Chinese.

19. A revolution is a ______.

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: a violent change of government

Some people came to America to be free. Many years later they were charged taxes by a king on the other side of the Atlantic.

20. The men who participated in the Boston Tea Party:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: went unpunished.

There was a very strict code of secrecy regarding who participated and it is still unknown who actually took part.

21. How were the participants of the Boston Tea Party punished?

From Quiz A Tempest of a Tea Party

Answer: They were never punished

The code of secrecy regarding who was involved in the Boston Tea Party was so strict that even today we are unsure who the participants were. Someone once came forward with a tip that a barber named Eckley was involved. The tipster was identified, stripped naked, and feathered and tarred. No one else ever came forward with information.

22. When Ben Franklin learned of the Boston Tea Party:

From Quiz Boston Tea Party

Answer: he offered to pay for the damages out of his fortune

At the time Ben Franklin was in London and he conditioned the offer on Parliaments repealing the tax. Parliament refused. No one ever paid for the lost tea.

23. What did Ben Franklin do when he heard of the incident?

From Quiz A Tempest of a Tea Party

Answer: He offered to pay for damages

Ben Franklin, being a rich and generous, offered to pay for the tea. But he placed a condition on his offer, saying he'd only pay if Britain reopened the harbor. Parliament refused and the tea was never paid for.

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