(1773) An act of the British Parliament to primarily bolster the East India Company, but it had other objectives. First, the act aimed at reducing the large amount of surplus tea held by the East India Company. Second, it was intended to undercut the price of smuggled tea into the colonies. Lastly, by having the colonists purchase the tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, the colonists would be implicitly agreeing to Parliament’s right to tax them. Frustration with the Tea Act led to the Boston Tea Party.
