The catalyst for the Boston Tea Party was the Tea Act of 1773, which granted the British East India Company exclusive rights to sell tea in the American colonies. Colonists viewed this as yet another example of taxation without representation and an attempt to undermine local merchants. Fueled by existing resentment toward British rule, the colonists organized a protest led by the Sons of Liberty. On December 16, 1773, they boarded ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water, signaling a significant escalation in tensions that would lead to the American Revolution.