Why Did The Tea Act Affected The Colonists

213 Words1 Pages
On May 10, 1773, the British parliament passed the Tea Act and unlike the previous acts it didn’t impose new taxes and its main purpose was not to make more money from the colonies but to help out the East India Company which was struggling financially. The company was struggling because many colonists were boycotting tea to protest the tax on tea and as a result, the company had millions of pounds of unsold tea in its warehouses. The company was important to the British because it played a large role in their economy and the Tea Act gave the company a monopoly on the sales and importation of tea in the colonies. The Tea Act affected the colonists by causing merchants who were part of the illegal Dutch tea trade to lose business, forcing shop