I fully understand the rationale behind the Boston Tea Party, ie protesting unrepresented taxes, what I don’t understand is this:
Since this was a protest, why dress up like Indians? Doesn’t that kind of diminish the protest, wearing a disguise, apparently no one was convinced that Indians did it, but it seems kind of strange to implicate innocents for no good reason…
Two reasons. First, what they were doing was illegal, so being disguised was a good idea… Second, to the colonists, Indians represented freedom from oppression, because of the idea that Indians had no tyrants over them…that they didn’t have governments, but were wild men living as they saw fit.
There was probably some alcohol involved, as well as a bit of mob psychology.
Most of all, it was what Captain Amazing referenced: a thin disguise, for the sake of deniability.
Interesting fact of the day: The tea that the Sons of Liberty destroyed during the tea party was exempt from the tea tax.
My understanding is, to this day, no one knows the identities of the participants. Pretty good for “thin disguises”.
Sadly, the Boston ea Party ship here at Fort Point Channel in Boston is closed. I think it’s under repair, and will re-open. I hope so – it was fun. The replica ship is incredibly tiny. If it’s really accurate, then I have a great deal of respect for anyone crossing the Atlantic in it.
Another point to consider: Three years prior to the Boston Tea Party, there had been the Gaspee Affair, where colonists burned a British revenue sloop, and shot the sloop’s captain.
During that incident some of the colonists were disguised as indians, as well. And at least one genuine indian was brought along (apparantly against his wishes) to provide more cover for what was arguably an act of war, or at least of piracy.
Between the fact that the captain of the sloop survived (a near miracle, considering he’d been gut shot) and the growing restiveness of the colonial population, nothing was done to those suspected of being involved in the burning.
Since the Sons of Liberty were involved with both actions I think it’s quite reasonable to assume that the success of the one action was part of the reason for continuing a strategem that seems to have worked.