Les 4e LLCE à la découverte du Nouveau Monde #westward

Some people wonder about how the American Revolutionary War truly began.

Well, would you care to join us on this time-traveling experience? Which events did actually lead up to the Boston Tea Party and what influence did it have at the time? Well, you are at the right place, let’s begin.

People often assume this piece of art is a painting or a canvas but actually it is a lithograph named “The destruction of tea at Boston Harbor”. This lithograph is exhibited in Indianapolis and was indeed made by Nathaniel Currier in the 19th century, more precisely in 1846 so one can wonder if it is really accurate. So how did they represent the scene while neither watching the scene unfold nor having a proper painting or even a sketch of the event ? So that makes us think if their understanding of the event is even close to real or is it enhanced to show their patriotic side while, in all actuality they were a lot more scared of Britain’s retaliation but didn’t want to be seen as not being fully engaged in their cause. We can wonder if it’s a real depiction of the event or if it is a piece of propaganda, but we are not here to answer that, rather something else.

Before we lead you any further, we have to clear some things up: which event led all the way to this event that would pave the way to a revolution that would eventually end up to the independence of the United States of America?

Our story begins in the 7-year war, in the American theater, called the “War of the conquest”, in which the British fought against both French and Spanish troops which concluded in the striking victory of the British as they still had the main theater of this war to preoccupy of. In the peace negotiations, they would gain both French Canada (Quebec) and Spanish Florida while Spain, for their early surrender, would be awarded French Louisiana given that they surrendered early, giving no mercy to the French and kicking them out of North America.
Britain had won, but at what cost? They army was devastated and when the main theater of the 7-year war came to an end, the British economy was left in shambles. But the newly-crowned George the third had an idea: he was not really fond of being in power and he hated making difficult choices and decisions, so he had a simple one: what is the solution to bankruptcy? Taxation, of course! So he imposed absurdly high taxes against the 13 colonies, the main trade affected being the Tea trade with the implementation of the Stamp Act which infuriated the settlers as they got taxed by a parliament where they were not even represented (Westminster) which became their motto “no taxation without representation”.

The Americans were not dependent on Britain for tea exports, they could buy “contreband tea” from the Dutch and even make some of their own so that led to the British East Indies’ sales crashing down and their finances being led into a free fall. To further avoid hurting their company’s finances and to actually begin once again making profit, they will initiate the “tea Act” which would greatly help the British given that the British Tea was exempted of taxes which meant it could be sold cheaper in the 13 colonies than any other source of tea.

That was the last spark to start the fire as the newspapers called for the boycott of British tea given that local plantations were shutting down due to unfavorable concurrence.

We are in the year of the lord, 1773, on the cold day of the 16th of December, in total, 6 ships just sailed across the Atlantic and right about now they arrived in the respective destinations of New York, Philadelphia, Charleston and three of them in Boston, the first were not allowed to be unloaded and just were kicked back to the UK but the three in Boston were kept and forbidden to leave the docks of the port of Boston. That is when, supported by the aristocrats and settlers living there, 60 people dressed as natives from the Mohawks named the “sons of the liberty” would climb onboard with one objective: the total and complete destruction of all the boxes of tea. Their plan would be successful insofar as the would climb onboard, open the boxes of tea and throw them right away without even some second thought.

The consequences would be massive as, once the British heard about the incident they would put into place severe punishments against Massachusetts’ government as they would dissolve their congress and the little political power they had and would altogether dismiss their government.

Those sanctions were seen in the 13 colonies as “oppression” which absolutely outraged the other delegates and more importantly the people which would demand all sanctions to be put up. The settlers have no power but the delegates can and would take the people’s offer and demand concessions to the King with the First Continental Congress where representatives form twelve of the thirteen colonies would join forces to make this demand. This would however be refused as the King George the third would refuse to put their demands into place.

It’s the year 1775 and the people would finally want to break away from Britain and start a Revolution, and a bloody one for sure. The height of the American Revolutionary war would be when the Second Continental Congress on the 4th of July, 1776, would reunite and would formulate a declaration of independence and a constitution that would mainly be written by Thomas Jefferson where is stipulated: “All men are created equal” and one of the representatives would be promoted as chief of the revolutionary armies. The war would get brutal and by the end of the war, we saw battles unfold like Lexington, the Fort Ticonderoga, and the Sieges of Savannah, Charleston, New-York and the provisional capital of the United States of America, Philadelphia. But the efforts of the British would be in vain as European powers would get involved In support of the rebels and the war would end in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 where the representatives of the participating countries would ratify the independence of the United States of America.

That was a big heads-up in terms of history! Now, let’s begin the actual description of the document.
First of all, the scene took place in Boston given that in the title of this piece of art I could read “Destruction of tea at BOSTON Harbor” so we guessed it precisely took place in the city’s harbour where we see, in the foreground many settlers openly protesting against Britain’s policy of exemption of taxes on the sells of tea. We are assuming those settlers are more-than-likely aristocrats who walked down the streets to challenge the authority of the crown insofar as they are wearing blue which, at the time, was a sign of power and wealth among society given that you could only tint clothes in blue with a tint, called indigo, only found in plantations in the Antilles and were sold very expensive and it was uncommon to see somebody wearing a blue piece of clothing. We could also see they are aristocrats by the fact that they have wigs on their hair and also, they are lifting their hats up in sign of respect and support for the brave people who climbed into the boats.

That brings us to the second part: let’s talk about those people onboard and who are they exactly?
Those people are settlers, like the ones supporting them, but they actually put their foot down against the British, so, they decided to hop onto the boats and throw all those shipments of tea overboard, dressed as natives so they could not be identified and put in jail for treason: they were scared of the repercussions. That is where the artist actually wrongly depicts what happened: most of them were not disguised at all but still some of them were dressed as natives given that they hoped the British would wrongly blame the natives which were terrifying at the time instead of the settlers.
On the left, however, we can see a three-story building which we suppose is the house of Massachusetts’ representatives which would make some sense given that Boston was at the time and still, today the capital of the state of Massachusetts or maybe it is just a regular administrative building. I prefer going with the first option because it makes more sense: We can see the building was raided and partially destroyed: The windows are broken and there is settlers protesting at the windows.
In the second ground, We remark the water is somewhat agitated and we could see low waves and the sky, at the top of the lithograph, is cloudy and it looks like it could rain or even worse, a storm could break out. So, we assume it is just winter given that we have to account for that the scene takes place in December, in the upper colonies of the 13 colonies, where, in winter, gets really cold, rainy and more importantly snowy, however, perhaps this is an artistic way to show this is an event which would change our timeline forever and maybe, also, it’s a way to represent the stressful atmosphere in Boston, and that it is going to get a lot worse by the day.
Finally, in the background, we can see low hills whom I suppose are in Massachusetts too so, I guess these are Bunker Hill and Breed Hill, where a lot of the fighting of the American siege of Boston happened, which ended up in a frightening British victory who would demoralize George Washington’s army, almost forcing him into submission, but, as you know, he never surrendered.
We don’t really see anything else to talk about so our guess is, this is finally the end of this very detailed description of the Boston Tea Party and we hope it helped at least someone understand better this milestone in American history.

Have you ever asked yourself how the independence of the United States actually began? I am here to tell you the whole story of the beginning of the independence of the United States.

First, let me describe a lithograph of the Boston Tea Party. From what I gathered, this lithograph was created by Nathaniel Currier in 1846. Now you can find this lithograph in the Museum of Art in Indianapolis in the USA. We cannot be sure this lithograph is a perfect reconstitution of Boston Tea Party given that this event took place in 1773, but Nathaniel Currier made it in 1846, so this lithograph is from the point of view of Nathaniel Currier and cannot be exact. In my opinion, Nathaniel Currier has intentionally modified this event on his painting to show his point of view.

In the foreground there are many people in a port, I am not sure, but I guess there are a lot of woman, so maybe the men are working or doing something else. The people are wearing wigs, so maybe they are from the Nobility. Their clothes are colourful, but they are wearing a lot of blue clothes, some yellow clothes and some red clothes, so maybe it was fashionable back in 1773. They are holding a hat in their hands, maybe they are celebrating something very important to them. On the left, there is a building, which is in very poor condition. I reckon it is a hotel given that there are some guests who are looking through the windows.

In the water there is a tiny boat, this boat could belong to one of the people in the hotel. On the left there is a huge ship; in this ship the are people throwing tea boxes overboard. I know for a fact theses peoples are Americans disguised as Natives. They are disguised as native because they want to show their discontent by throwing to the sea tea boxes, but they are scared of the consequences of their act so they disguised themselves as Natives to be unrecognizable by the English government. I am not sure but I suppose the Americans stole the clothes of the Natives to make their disguisement perfect.

In the background there is an another ship, onboard which I cannot see anyone because they are too far away, but I am sure they are Americans disguised as native as well because around the ship there are tea boxes in the sea. I am not sure but I guess there are many other ship where people are throwing tea boxes because peoples like to do something huge to show their discontent. Behind the ship there is also beautiful mountains, maybe the Natives are living here, and maybe they are disgusted to see so many boxes of tea at the sea, if I were there I would be disgusted.

In the background, the sky looks really bad maybe the artist want to show there is an ominous sing of war because when an artist made a painting or a lithograph with a bad sky, he wants to say something like that.

Now let me explain the History of this lithograph. In the 18th century, North America was made with 13 colonies and these colonies was populated by Europeans settlers. The 13 American Colonies had different governmental structure ruled by a governor appointed from London who controlled the administration, with the help of a locally elected legislature to vote taxes, and make laws. The question of independence from Britain did not arise as long at the colonies needed British military support against the French and Spanish powers. The British won the French-India war: France lost their colonies and territories in Canada and Louisiana. The war was costly and Britain needed money so they taxed the colonies but did not ask the governors. Could Britain tax people in the US government didn’t have Americans? « no taxation without representation » : the colonist refused to pay taxes.

Tension escalated in the 1760s and 1770s : Boston Tea Party in 1773 was the start of the Revolution in Boston, to protest against the new taxes on tea. Great Britain dismissed Massachusetts government which became ruled by an army. It was outrage: leaders from all 13 colonies gathered, and created the first Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance. They called for a boycott of British trade and petitioned the king. It was not about independence at that point. But this appeal had no effect. So, the second Continental Congress was created in 1775, to organise the defense of the colonies against the British Army : they began a rebellion against the rule in 1775. They proclaimed their independence in 1776, as the United States of America. The American Revolutionary War lasted from 1775 to 1783 the US captured the Great Britain army, they allied with France and Spain, Britain had no allies. General George Washinton was an excellent organiser and administrator, who worked successfully with Congress and the State Governor : he maintained an idealistic republican army. The American Revolution was a success. The peace of Paris in 1783 recognized their Independence.

Thank you for having read me until the end and have a great day.

People often wonders how the American revolution actually began. The nature of this new document is a lithograph about the “Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor” by Nathaniel Currier; at the 1846 and is exhibited at the Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA. It tells the story of the spark that set fire to… tea.

First, let me describe this lithograph.

On the foreground, I could see a rough crowd who are cheering the ships where there are peoples to look like the Natives. They are not Natives though, but settlers under disguise. I think they look like people from the Bourgeoisie because I can see they are wearing wigs, colorful clothes and they are looking pleased and standoffish.

Moving on to the the Americans onboard the ships; they are throwing expensive tea boxes overboard. So, I think the settlers are aiming to Independence and are beginning to proclaim this idea. Next to the second ground, I can see a building that seems very significant because I guess the painter had not put that on his lithograph for no reason. Last, on the last ground, we can see a lot of mountains, so it might be another territory. Now, the description touches its end.

Let’s switch of the History behind this lithograph.

After the war of seven years, King Georges III had to include a taxation to the citiziens despite their just cause: “No taxation without representations.”

Next, the Second Continental Congress was created in 1775, to organise the defense of the colonies against the British Army:

– they began a rebellion against British rule in 1775;

– they proclaimed their Independence in 1776, as the United States of America;

-the American Revolutionary War lasted from, 1775 to 1783

– the US captured the Great Britain army;

– they allied with France and Spain;

– Britain had no allies.

General Georges Washington was an excellent organiser and administrator, who worked successfully with Congress and the States Governor: he maintained an idealistic republican army. The American Revolution was a Success. The peace of Paris in 1783 recognized their Independence.

You think you know how the USA became independent… You may be wrong, although I know. Today I am going to tell you the Truh. Indeed, just a simple clue: look at the sky of this work of art ; it is ominous of a war is to come.

First, I am going to describe the lithograph named « the destruction of tea at Boston harbor », Nathaniel Currier completed in 1846. It represents the Boston tea party which is a very key event leading to the Independence of the USA. Today it is exhibited in the Indianapolis Museum of art, USA.

First in the foreground we can see a lot of people who are wearing blue or yellowish clothes. They seem quite wealthy. Actually they are on the docks of the Boston harbor and they are raising their hat to cheer what appears to be Natives on board.

Let me tell you the truth of the matter. Actually they are not Natives, they are Americans dressed up as Natives. You would wonder why they act so ? It is rather simple : they are dressed up because they are throwing tea boxes overboard to protest against George III, the King of England… and they are afraid of reprisals. It is telling don’t you think ?

Indeed back in 1607, the first settlers arrived in the « New world » which was not really a new world because tribes lived there before 1607 so settlers just killed almost all Natives who defended their Tribe. English colonies conquered the Eastern seacoast in the 17 century. And now they are dressing up as Natives to shift the blame of their protest. Quite coward I would say. 

The 13 American colonies had different governmental structure. First ruled by a governor appointed from London, secondly, the governor controlled the administration and thirdly, with the help of a locally elected legislature they voted taxes and laws. I suppose it is a fairly good governmental structure whereas if the governor is from london, we can say he will simply following the King’s orders and, as such, it is a Monarchy like all Europan countries at the time.

On the otherhand in the 13 American colonies, a locally elected legislature helped the governor to vote taxes and make laws so it is not really the King who contols wholly the 13 colonies. However, the 7-year war was costly and Britain needed money so they taxed the colonies but did not ask the governor. It was outrageous for the Americans who desperately wanted to be represented in parliament in England. Following these two events Americans created this motto « no taxation without representation » and they refused to pay the taxes.

To me it is a smart idea as it would set a precedent. This is when the Boston tea party happened, as a way to protest against the new tax on tea. It was the start the Revolution. It was an outrage for Americans, so leaders from all 13 colonies created the First Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance while – at the time – not their independence. Plus, they called for the boycott of British trade and petitioned the King, who simply refused. Indeed the Second Continental congress gathered in 1775 to shape the defence of the colonies against the British army and proclaim their independence in 1776, as the United States of America.

To conclude we can say this lithograph is a part of the war that the Americans waged and I guess it is a National Pride.

Well first, let me present this new document.

This new document is a lithograph by Nathaniel Currier, named “The destruction of tea at Boston Harbor”. The lithograph represents American settlers in Indianapolis, in the USA. It’s exhibited in the Museum of Art, and dates from 1846. This lithograph helps us to find and understand what make people start the “American Revolution”.

But there is still one question remaining… Why?

To continue, let me describe the lithograph.

In the foreground, there are American settlers who are waving their hats as an encouragement. In front of the platform, there is a ship with settlers who pretend to be « natives » so that they can accuse them if any problems arise. On the left, there is a building I guess it’s serves up as a warehouse for the settlers.

Next, let’s talk about the Second Continental Congress…

The first Continental Congress was born from an outrage : leaders from all the 13 colonies gathered to prepare their resistance. It was not a question of independence at that time, but this appeal had no effect. So they called for a boycott of British trade and sent a petition to the King. The second Continental Congress was created to organise the defence of the colonies against the British Army in 1775:
-they started a rebellion; proclaimed the independence, as the United States of America in 1776.
-the War of the American Revolutionary lasted from 1775 to1783; the US took hostage the Great Britain army.
-France and Spain cooperated and Britain did not have got allies.

George Washington was a remarkable organiser and administrator, he work with Congress and States he maintained a republican army.
The peace of Paris recognised their independence in 1783.

The United States president, Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana from Louis XVI in 1803. The USA has increased in size, Texas join the union in 1845. In 1861 Abraham Lincoln was elected as the new president of the USA.

To finish, before the Second Continental Congress Britain needed money so they taxed the colonies but the colonists refused to pay the taxes. So they say: « No taxation without representation!”

That’s my explication for the history of the Boston tea party who is linked to this lithograph.

This document is a lithograph of the XIXe Century which reprensents a famous event in the American History: the Boston tea party or the destruction of Tea in Boston Harbor that took place on 16 december 1773. This event was part of the tension between the 13 colonies and Great Britain prior to the War of independance.

In the Foreground, we see a British ship In the harbour. Onboard the boats, several men are dressed up as Natives and are throwing crates of tea into the river while people are cheering. The men on the boat climb onto the deck, open the tea chests lift them up and throw them overboard into the water. The colonists want to protest against British taxes, in particular the tea act, deemed unfair.  They believed that he should not pay taxes given that they do not have representatives in the British Parliament : « nos taxation without representation ».

The Boston party became a symbol of colonial resistan and led to events that culminated in the American revolution.

People often wonder : how was the revolution of America born, how did this nation become independant ? So let us speak about « The Boston Tea Party. » First of all the nature of this document is a lithograph by Nathaniel Currier. It is exhibited in the Museum of Art in the Indianapolis, and was completed in 1846.

In the foreground I can see lot of people who are wearing both yellow and blue coats although some are wearing red coats. I guess they are rich because their clothes are wealthy-looking, and their are wearing white wigs, whic is a symbol of richness. The people in the docks are raising their hat to the sky. By the way, the sky is not totaly blue so I think it is an ominous sign of war is coming soon. They are doing that because they would like to show their discontent about the rules of English King of the 18th.

Next, in the background I can see English people dressed up as a Natives and this is a very pathetic action because they are defending a loyal cause yet they feared the consequences. This is a piece of propaganda to serve two agendas. Getting power and targetting the true Americans, the Natives.

Now is time to go back to 1620 with the James I’s rule : a small crew of people were unhappy with King James I’s stance on religion and with the financial problems raging in England, they decided to leave England for the United States to create a new pure society specificially based on the bible.

Two hundred of years later not much has changed.

The English people were discontent discontent with King George III’s rule who ruined England because of the seven-year war. The 13 colonies of United states worked, produced and were taxed though, without any representatives in England. As I said, England was ruined by the seven-year War, so King George III began to restrict access to paper, newspaper and tea, which was an extremely expensive drink at the time.

Unfortunately, the King wanted to save his biggest compagny so they were going to exempt it from taxes. Anger arose in the colonies of the United states and on December 16, 1773 in Boston it exploded. The Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Native Americans an boarded three English ships called the Dartmoath, the Eleonor and the Beever and threw 342 crates of tea overboard. It’s was on this that the famous phrase « no taxation without representation  » was born.

Time for the concusion: what did all this lead to ?
All of this led to the Declaration of Independance on July 4th, 1776 which meant that all of these colonies were no longer recognized as British, but as Americans. This also led to the birth of United states.

Hundred of years laters and all of these wars and conflicts came to and end.

Today we are going to present to you this incredible work of art, that became a landmark in the Histyory of the US.

Actually it is a lithograph made by Nataniel Currier and named « The destruction of tea at Boston Harbour ». Right now it is exhibited in the Museum of Arts in Indianapolis. You probably are wondering what is a lithograph, so we are going to explain it : it’s a process for printing patterns, pictures from a piece of stone or metal.

In the foreground, I can see European people raising their hat and waving at settlers disguised as Natives insofar as they are afraid of gouvernemental’s reprisals. They are cheering given that so-called « Natives » are throwing aboard boxes of tea.

Future Americans wanted to be seen in the eyes of the world at all costs. In 1770, leaders from all 13 colonies gathered, and created the first continental congress to coordinate their resistance. They called for a boycot of British trade and petitioned the King. It was not about independance at that point. But this appeal had no effect. In 1775 they held a second continental congress to organise the defence of the colonies against the British army. They began to proclamed their independance as the United States of America on the 4th of July 1776.

Their allies were France and Spain, the American revolution was a huge succes. The peace of Paris in 1783 recognized their independance.

Now let us talk about this so-called « Natives »: they are celebrating their succesfull revolution but they feared the consequencs so they dressed up as natives. They are both fearless and shameful.

At the left, there is an old damaged three-story house. Maybe it is the gouvernor’s house that was ransaked by everyone who is on this lithograph, as a sign of protest.

The story behind this representation of independance is that future Americans were absolutely mad since the 13 colonies had different governmental structure :

It was ruled by a governor appointed from London who controled the Admistration with the help of a locally elected legislature to vote taxes and make laws. The British won the French-Indian war and France lost their colonies and territories in Canada and Louisiana. The war was costly and Britian needed money so they taxed the colonies but didn’t ask the governors. Could Britain tax people in the US government ? They had a slogan : « No taxation without representation ». For us this slogan really represents what they have been through and why they want their independance.

We can notice the sky is dark grey, it means something bad is probably going to happen. It is also an omnirous sign of the war to come, the sky fortells what is next.

To conclude, we can see a piece of propaganda, the protesters exposed their slogan against the gouvernment and to show their independance to the entire world !

To begin, let me present the nature of this document. This document is a lithograph by Nathaniel Currier. The title of this document is « THE DESTRUCTION OF TEA AT BOSTON.« 

I can see it’s cloudy, maybe a storm is coming so I can deduce from this situation, it is not a cheerful representation. A war is coming. 

But let me describe what I can see :
In the foreground, I can see many people. These people are American settlers. They are in a harbor, I guess they are satisfied and pleased with this revolt ! It to important to know that the King governed the 13 colonies with governors. The war was costly and Britain needed money so they taxed the colonies but did not ask the governors. How could they tax the US then ? 
I reckon the people in the lithography are rich because I can see they wear blue and yellow clothes and color is a sign of wealth.

In the second ground I can see many boats and onbaord there are many Americans disguised as Natives. They are throwing carts of tea in the river. On the left, I can see a dilapidated building which I suppose is the house of the gouvernor the Americans ransacked for revenge. They scared of reprisals.

To begin, the UK and their King ruled the colonies who were dependent militarily speaking. They had colonies and territories in Canada and Louisiana. The British needeed money so they taxed the colonies the question is though ; could Britain tax America ? They refused to payed taxes. The people decided to boycott British goods and petitiponed the king who refused to listen.

They began a rebellion against British rule in 1795 ; proclained their independence in 1776, as the USA. They American revolutionary war lasted from 1775 or 1783.

« The destruction of the Tea at Boston Harbor » is an illustration by the Nathaniel Currier, made in the 19th century. Before going any further, Currier was known for producing popular image depicting important scenes in the History of the United States. Even if he did not live the event, he sought to show striking moments of the American past. Thus, one can wonder if it is really accurate. The title refers to a famous episode from 1773, called the Boston Tea Party. This term means that tea was deliberately destroyed in Boston Harbor. The American settlers did this to protest against the taxes imposed by Great Britain, more precisely King George III. The link between the title and the work is therefore plain: the image represents this act of revolt, which has become quite symbolic in the American History.

In the foreground of the image, we see a group of Americans gathered at the docks by the water. They wear long coats and often raise their arms, as if to encourage what is happening onboard. Some observe the scene carefully; others seem to support the action. This crowd gives an impression of movement and shows that many people are involved or interested in the event. This first shot is directly linked to the story of the Boston Tea Party, an episode from 1773 where soon-to-be American citizens destroyed cargoes of tea to protest against the taxes imposed by Great Britain. The presence of this crowd represents the inhabitants of Boston who came to support or witness this revolt. This shows that the action was not isolated: it was approved by a large part of the population, which explains why it marked the History of the United States.

To the left of the painting, we can see a large stone building, quite high, with many windows lined up. Its appearance is simple, without decorations, which gives it a serious appearance. Some people look trough the windows, which shows that the place is inhabited and that is plays an important role in the scene.
This building can represent a prison, a court or an administrative building. It seems to be linked to power and authority. People who observe from the windows seem to witness what is happening in the Harbor. We can imagine that the decisions were made in this building, and that the people taken on the boats may come from there. This reinforces the idea of a forced departure and an unfair situation.

On the back of the painting, we see several boats moored in the Harbor. On the ships, men are disguised, especially to hide their identity. They carry tea boxes and throw them directly into the sea. The dark water and the movement of the characters make the scene very lively. This scene represents the Boston Tea Party. American settlers protest against the taxes imposed by England without their consent. By throwing tea into the sea, they show their refusal to obey and their desire for freedom. This symbolic gesture marks an important moment in the revolt and announces the beginning of a major conflict between the colonies and British power.

This painting shows an important moment of revolt and protest. Thanks to the different shots, the artist makes us understand the tension and injustice of the situation. The scene of the port and the boats symbolise the refusal of authority and the beginning of a great historical change.

First this new document is a lithograph called « The destruction of tea at Boston Harbor » made by Nathaniel Currier and exhibited in the Museum of Art in Indianapolis in USA in 1846 .

In the background it may seem irrelevant but, when looking at the sky in paintings, one can often draw conclusion as to what might happen, that is an omirous sign of the war to come. We can clearly see the scenes takes place in a Harbor at Boston as we can see there are boats and docks. Aboard the main boat, there are settlers disguised as Natives, throwing tea given overboard as they were upset against taxations by Georges III. Indeed, he imposed taxes on the New World because he needed money to finance the war with the French because they started ton invade west of the colonies.

Newly Americans had a motto: « no taxations without representation. » They were not proud it of this protest though, as they are scared of reprisals and feared the consequences the King might impose on them. 

The Harbour was crowed with wealthy-looking who wore blue clothes – blue was an expensive color. They agreed and were glad with the rebellion as they were shown raising their hat.

Boston is rather wealthy city, so basically, it is a newly-born city. Nathaniel Currier completed his work of art because he wanted to show the History of America and the assumed begining of the American revolutionnary wars. The second Continental Congress took place on July 4th 1776 and proclaimed thier independance.