On a cold evening in December 1773, a group of men climbed aboard three ships docked in Boston Harbor. Armed with hatchets, the men began breaking into the ships’ valuable cargo—342 crates of tea. They dumped the tea into the black water of the harbor and then marched back home through the city streets. This "Boston Tea Party" was a bold act of protest by American colonists against British rule. It pushed the colonies and Great Britain a step closer to war. But who were these protestors? Why would they risk angering the powerful British government? And how did the British respond? Discover the facts about the Boston Tea Party and the colonists’ struggle for independent rule.