[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:15.04,0:00:17.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You've probably heard of the Boston Tea Party,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.68,0:00:19.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something about a bunch of angry colonists
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.47,0:00:21.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,dressed as Native Americans
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.06,0:00:23.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,throwing chests of tea into the water.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.15,0:00:24.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the story is far more complicated,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.84,0:00:26.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,filled with imperial intrigue,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.21,0:00:27.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,corporate crisis,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.48,0:00:28.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,smuggling,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.19,0:00:31.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the grassroots origins of the American Revolution.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.75,0:00:34.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first thing you need to know about tea in the 1700's
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.67,0:00:36.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that it was really, really popular.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.74,0:00:38.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In England, each man, woman, and child
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.76,0:00:42.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,consumed almost 300 cups of this stuff every year.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.03,0:00:44.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, since the English colonized America,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.66,0:00:47.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Americans were crazy about tea too.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.41,0:00:48.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By the 1760's, they were drinking
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.80,0:00:51.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over a million pounds of tea every year.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.29,0:00:53.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, when Britain wanted to increase taxes
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.38,0:00:54.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on tea in America,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.53,0:00:55.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people were not happy,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.73,0:00:58.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mostly because they had no say in tax decisions
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.09,0:00:59.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made in London.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.55,0:01:00.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Remember that famous phrase,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.61,0:01:02.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"No taxation without representation"?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.63,0:01:04.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The American colonists had long believed
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.60,0:01:07.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they were not subject to taxes imposed by legislature
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.57,0:01:09.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in which they lacked representation.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.68,0:01:11.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, rather than paying the taxes,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.35,0:01:13.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they simply dodged the tax collectors.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.70,0:01:16.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Since the east coast of America is hundreds of miles long
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.78,0:01:18.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and British enforcement was lax,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.60,0:01:20.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about 3/4 of the tea Americans were drinking
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.78,0:01:23.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was smuggled in, usually from Holland.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.20,0:01:24.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the British insisted that Parliament
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.83,0:01:27.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,did have the authority to tax the colonists,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.12,0:01:29.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially after Britain went deeply into debt
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.16,0:01:31.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fighting the French in the Seven Years' War.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.42,0:01:32.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To close the budget gap,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.38,0:01:33.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,London looked to Americans,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.79,0:01:37.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in 1767 imposed new taxes on a variety of imports,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.96,0:01:40.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including the American's beloved tea.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.51,0:01:42.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,America's response: no thanks!
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.22,0:01:44.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They boycotted the importation of tea from Britain,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.22,0:01:45.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and instead, brewed their own.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.97,0:01:48.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After a new bunch of British customs commissioners
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.52,0:01:51.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cried to London for troops to help with tax enforcement,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.21,0:01:52.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things got so heated
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.42,0:01:54.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Red Coats fired on a mob in Boston,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.67,0:01:55.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,killing several people,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.96,0:01:58.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in what was soon called the Boston Massacre.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.41,0:02:00.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Out of the terms of the 1773 Tea Act,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.65,0:02:02.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Parliament cooked up a new strategy.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.90,0:02:05.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now the East India Company would sell the surplus tea
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.24,0:02:08.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,directly through hand-picked consignees in America.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.78,0:02:10.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This would lower the price to consumers,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.24,0:02:12.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,making British tea competitive with the smuggled variety
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.86,0:02:14.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while retaining some of the taxes.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.78,0:02:16.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the colonists saw through the British ploy
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.36,0:02:18.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and cried, "Monopoly!"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.27,0:02:21.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now it's a cold and rainy December 16, 1773.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.66,0:02:23.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,About 5,000 Bostonians are crowded
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.76,0:02:25.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the Old South Meeting House,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.43,0:02:27.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,waiting to hear whether new shipments of tea
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.26,0:02:28.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that have arrived down the harbor
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.74,0:02:30.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will be unloaded for sale.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.43,0:02:32.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When the captain of one of those ships reported
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.10,0:02:34.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he could not leave with his cargo on board,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.34,0:02:35.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sam Adams rose to shout,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.82,0:02:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"This meeting can do no more to save the country!"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.90,0:02:41.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cries of "Boston Harbor a teapot tonight!"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.57,0:02:42.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rang out from the crowd,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.92,0:02:43.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and about 50 men,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.89,0:02:45.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some apparently dressed as Native Americans,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.99,0:02:47.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,marched down to Griffin's Wharf,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.82,0:02:49.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stormed aboard three ships,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.48,0:02:52.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and threw 340 tea chests overboard.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.69,0:02:54.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An infuriated British government responsded
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.54,0:02:57.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the so-called Coercive Acts of 1774,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.46,0:02:59.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which, among other things,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.42,0:03:02.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,closed the port of Boston until the locals compensated
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.16,0:03:04.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the East India Company for the tea.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.10,0:03:05.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That never happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.09,0:03:06.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Representatives of the colonies
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.69,0:03:08.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gathered at Philadelphia to consider
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.31,0:03:11.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how best to respond to continued British oppression.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.67,0:03:14.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This first Continental Congress supported destruction of the tea,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.83,0:03:17.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pledged to support a continued boycott,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.25,0:03:20.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and went home in late October 1774
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.02,0:03:22.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even more united in their determination
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.27,0:03:24.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to protect their rights and liberties.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.39,0:03:26.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Boston Tea Party began a chain reaction
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.81,0:03:28.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that led with little pause
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.22,0:03:29.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the Declaration of Independence
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.70,0:03:30.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a bloody rebellion,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.100,0:03:33.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,after which the new nature was free to drink its tea,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.76,0:03:35.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more or less, in peace.