Why did the patriots dress up as Mohawks during the Boston Tea Party?

Answer 1

They didn't dress up. This is part of the fable. The Boston Tea Party was a protest of the lowering of the cost of the British tea by the government and the East India tea company who had gotten a bail out from the crown in 1773. The smugglers in the colonies found the Dutch tea that they sold was higher in price than the British tea, so they staged the Boston Tea Party and others in harbors in the colonies ( Hamilton was one of the largest smugglers in the colonies and a founding member of the Son's of Liberty). The cost of tea also went as far back as the Navigation Acts and the restricting of trade to and from the colonies passed from 1650-1733. Tea was also taxed in 1767 in the Townsend Acts.

Answer 2

While this protest was illegal, making any old method of obscuring individual identities necessary, Mohawk warriors were chosen because they were a truly American symbol of freedom and rugged individualism. This is a parallel to why the Americans also began to identify with the rattlesnake, bald eagle, and turkey (which Thomas Jefferson wanted to be the national symbol). Essentially, the Sons of Liberty (who conducted the Stamp Act protests) were showing that they identified more with American symbols than English ones.

Answer 3

The Sons of Liberty had two reasons for disguising themselves. The practical one was that no one would recognize them in the Indian garb and face paint. The political one is that they were acting as Americans rather than British subjects.
Although the tea was shipped duty-free by the East India Company, it was granted a monopoly on legal sale by the Tea Act of 1773, so that buying it meant paying the British taxes. Other ships had been scared off by the colonists, but when the colonial governor refused to send three of them away, their unguarded cargoes were dumped into the bay.

Answer 4

Hancock paid and organized it and had Samuel Adams organize the men.They didn't dress up. This is part of the fable. The Boston Tea Party was a protest of the lowering of the cost of the British tea by the government and the East India tea company who had gotten a bail out from the crown in 1773. The smugglers in the colonies found the Dutch tea that they sold was higher in price than the British tea, so they staged the Boston Tea Party and others in harbors in the colonies ( Hamilton was one of the largest smugglers in the colonies and a founding member of the Son's of Liberty). The cost of tea also went as far back as the Navigation Acts and the restricting of trade to and from the colonies passed from 1650-1733. Tea was also taxed in 1767 in the Townsend Acts.

Answer 5

They didn't. That is part of the legend that isn't true. The men who threw the tea into Boston harbor were smugglers who were upset over the British LOWERING the price of British tea making the Dutch tea they smuggled higher in price. They were protecting their business. According to first hand accounts of the event they acted like Indians and weren't dressed as natives. There were also 2,000 people who were there that night according to the first hand accounts. John Adams swore that he would only drink the smuggled Dutch tea, and Washington was cited as criticizing the tea party.

Answer 6

Hi, I am eight and here is my answer.

They dressed up has Native America's so the King George III wouldn't know it was them.

Answer 7

So people wouldn't know it is them