Why did the colonists feel that the Tea Act violated their rights?

Answer 1

they taxed the tea so they got mad for taxing the tea.

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Actually, The tea act LOWERED the price of the tea.

2 reasons that the colonists were angry was because it violated their English right, of only being taxed by their elected representatives, NOT Parliment.

Another reason, is because the East India Company was given a special 'treatment' that allowed it to ship tea cheaper than other places, thereby giving it the oppritunity to sell it cheaper, making it where the foreign merchants in the colonies go out of buisness for selling so high.

Answer 2

Actually, they didn't think that at all. First, they didn't think of the king as violating rights. This is a modern reading of the situation and under the king colonists didn't think about rights because that would be treason. The source of the problem with the tea was the colonial smugglers because the crown didn't raise taxes on tea but LOWERED the tax. This made the Dutch tea sold by smugglers higher in price than the English tea. It was a economic decision to throw the tea into Boston harbor by Sam Adams and Hamilton who had the Sons of Liberty. Hamilton was the money man who provided funds while Adams was the organizer. The result of the lowered tax on tea affected their bottom line. 90% of the colonists were more interested in their farms and survival than politics in the colonies. It was the 10% that wanted revolution and to break from the king. These are the same men who would end up writing the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the constitution in 1789. They were the nobility and professional men of the colonies. Men like Jefferson who read enlightenment thinkers like Locke or Madison who would pass out handbills on the streets of Boston to get people interested in revolution.