The Boston Tea Party was a reaction to a tax upon tea,

That sparked the USA refusing to be a British colony,

They hated being governed and taxed from afar,

So staged a peaceful protest, though that seems bizarre.

Besides, the East India Company had a monopoly,

On US distribution of all kinds of tea.

This was an outrage and national affront,

So this was an issue they had to confront.

Dartmouth sailed into Boston in 1773,

With a shipload of Brits and a cargo of tea,

Followed by Eleanor, William and Beaver,

And local anger reached the pitch of a fever.

This British arrogance the Yanks couldn’t ignore,

So they would not let the cargo reach the shore.

Dressed up as Indians, faces blackened with soot,

Their plan to scupper these upstarts was soon underfoot.

They rowed out to each boat and scampered aboard,

And tossed into the sea the tea they abhorred.

The Brits had no response to this phenomenon,

The US was independent only 3 years on!