# Why the masqeurade (at the Boston Tea Party)? \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769 "2005-04-05T02:23:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NadaHappyCamper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/1 "2005-04-05T02:23:01Z")
Why did the Fathers of our Country feel it was necessary to dress as Indians during the " Boston Tea Party?" 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/2 "2005-04-05T02:32:25Z")
They were committing acts of vandalism, violence and destruction of others’ property. They had to disguise themselves as something in order to make it hard to recognize them as individuals and hold them accountable. Face paint and feathers are easy. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/3 "2005-04-05T02:37:29Z")
Also, those actually committing the vandalism in Boston, New York and elsewhere were mostly an undisciplined mob. You wouldn’t have seen Adams, Franklin or Washington engaged in those activities. ---
**Author:** ![NadaHappyCamper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/4 "2005-04-05T03:04:47Z")
Actually it’s been sometyme since I’ve had a history class, the way I remember is the “Boston Tea Party” was supposed to be a protest against a tea tax. So I guess I am wondering why disguse oneself as an Indian,who probably doesn’t drink tea, to protest a tax, simple masks or hoods would conceal one’s identity. Unless of course the real purpose of the “Tea Party” was to get the Indians blamed for destroying property. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/5 "2005-04-05T03:07:02Z")
Hmmm. I wouldn’t expect an undisciplined mob to plan ahead and dress in “uniform.” Individual identities could be hidden by face masks. I think the point here was to disguise the group identity, to avoid retaliatory measures. Even if the British “knew” they weren’t really Indians, it’s pretty hard to make a case for any punishment/oppression of the citizenry when every eyewitness can only say it looked like Indians did it. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/6 "2005-04-05T03:24:20Z")
Nobody expected that it would be thought that Indians actually dumped the tea, just that the actual perpetrators could not be accurately identified. Like a bank robber wearing a Richard Nixon mask – noboday would think Richard Nixon robbed the bank, but they couldn’t identify who was behind it. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/7 "2005-04-05T03:24:44Z")
> [@NadaHappyCamper](#): > > Why did the Fathers of our Country feel it was necessary to dress as Indians during the " Boston Tea Party?" 😕 Think of the Indian getup as black ski masks. Anonymous, menacing, etc. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/8 "2005-04-05T03:49:14Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Also, those actually committing the vandalism in Boston, New York and elsewhere were mostly an undisciplined mob. You wouldn’t have seen Adams, Franklin or Washington engaged in those activities. Especially since Washington lived in Virginia… ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/9 "2005-04-05T15:26:49Z")
According to this [eyewitness account](http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm), they were a well-organized mob. Apparently the ‘disguises’ fooled no one and there was even some considerable conversation between the “Indians” and the ships’ crews. I think they were in costume because A) they’d been drinking and B) this was all a lot of _fun_ and C) perhaps because this costume emphasized their North American idenitities rather than their European roots. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/10 "2005-04-05T17:24:58Z")
Vague thread titles make it hard for people who are thinking of opening the thread to decide if it’s worth their time, so I have edited the title accordingly. Please try to choose more descriptive titles in the future. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/11 "2005-04-05T17:33:35Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Like a bank robber wearing a Richard Nixon mask – nobody would think Richard Nixon robbed the bank Why, just because he _said_ he wasn’t a crook? ---
**Author:** ![jsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-masqeurade-at-the-boston-tea-party-edited-title/297769/12 "2005-04-05T20:02:55Z")
The American Indian was used as a symbol of liberty throughout the time period. So, it was more symbolism than anything else. There are accounts that the British troops and sailors knew it was American rebels and were very accomodating. Some sailors even pushed the tea in the harbor themselves. Some had been waiting for months to unload their tea so they probably were anxious to move along.