The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party are related events. The Tea Act was passed to give a British company, the British East India Company, a monopoly over the tea trade in the colonies. This company had some financial issues, and by giving them this monopoly, the British government hoped it would help the company. The tax on tea, which had existed for many years, continued. The colonists were not happy with this new law.

The colonists objected to the monopoly that was created by the passage of this law. They also didn’t like the tax on tea continuing. To show their displeasure with this law, the colonists boarded ships in Boston Harbor that contained many chests of tea. They then threw the tea into the water causing the tea to be destroyed. This caused a significant financial lost for the British company. Parliament responded with very harsh laws called the Intolerable Acts. This put the British and colonists closer to war.