Reclaiming America: Why We Honor the Tea Party Movement

Written By: Matthew Spalding, Ph.D.  |  Posted: Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

The period of history we know as the American Founding, stretching from 1763 to 1776 to 1787, is made up of a series of turning points, crucial moments like Lexington and Concord. After 1763, you recall, the British looked to the American colonies as sources of revenue and began taxing them, claiming that they had the authority to rule them in "all cases whatsoever." And these colonists were forced to think through things they hadn't thought about for some time, much as we are today.

At first reluctantly, and then increasingly with fervor and determination, they began to object and to resist. In hopes of pacifying the colonists, the British actually got rid of most of the taxes, except for one: a tax on tea. For those colonists, though, it wasn't the amount that was the issue; it was the principle, because it violated the right not to be taxed without representation.

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