why did the boston tea party happen

The Boston Tea Party happened primarily as a protest against the British tax on tea, which the American colonists saw as unjust because they had no representation in the British Parliament. This protest reflected the wider colonial objection to "taxation without representation" and opposition to the British East India Company's monopoly on tea, granted by the 1773 Tea Act. The colonists objected not only to the tax itself but also to the principle that Britain could tax them without their consent through elected representatives. The immediate act involved about 100 men boarding ships in Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773, and dumping 342 chests of tea into the water as a political statement. This event was part of rising tensions after the costly Seven Years' War, where Britain sought to recover its debts by taxing its American colonies, leading to major unrest and eventual revolution.