THE BOSTON TEA PARTY - Sounds of Sunday



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Boston Tea Party

"In the Midst of Thee" - volumes 1 & 2 contain 200 favorite Glenn Rawson Stories - at and at participating bookstores.

It was a cold rainy December night in Boston, Massachusetts when a crowd of some 7000 people responded to the ringing bells in Old South Church. They came spilling out into the streets, and listened to Samuel Adams and others speak about British tea and taxes.[1] At that very moment, three ships laden with East India tea lay anchored in Boston Harbor. In just a few hours that tea would be forced on the citizens of Boston, taxes and all.

With adamant finality, Samuel Adams said, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country.[2]"

Just then, fifty of Boston's more prominent men came out of the back room of the church disguised as Mohawk Indians. With the crowd following the ‘Indians,’ they made their way to Griffin’s Wharf, where they split into three companies and boarded the tea ships.[3] While the British crews watched, the men of Boston dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor, effectively turning Boston Harbor into a saltwater teapot – about 90,000 pounds worth. That tea amounted to about 26 million cups and a small fortune[4].

Well, as they left, British Admiral Montagu called out, "Well, boys, you have [you’ve] had a fine, pleasant evening for your Indian caper, haven't you? But mind [you], you have [you’ve] got to pay the fiddler yet![5]"

Oh, and pay they did! The British instantly retaliated closing Boston Harbor, and cutting off all trade. Among other things, they disfranchised the city government and took steps to strangle the city of Boston completely out of existence.

That tea party was followed by Lexington and Concord, which led to the American Revolution – which led to American freedom.[6]

Now, I learned that story as a child, and I pondered it. What was it that was at the heart of that tea party? Did the colonists not like British tea? – No, they loved tea! Well then, was the issue taxes; was it money? - No, because even with the tax on the British tea, it was still cheaper to buy that tea than the Dutch tea they were smuggling in.[7] So why then did the people of Boston tweak the nose of the most powerful bear on earth – the British military?

Listen – remember this? "Taxation without representation is tyranny." That’s what they chanted.[8] The meaning of that is: If they could have no voice in government, and no vote, they wanted no part!

Boston went to war for a voice in government, the right to vote. Now my friends, the right to vote is a fundamental expression of man's God-given agency.

Sadly, in the last presidential election, less than 60% [updated from 2013] of Americans voted.[9] Or in other words, they surrendered the governing of their lives to someone else – which is exactly what Lucifer wanted in the first place.[10]

Glenn Rawson – October 26, 2004

Music: Passages, track 5 (edited) – Jay Richards

Song: America, the Beautiful – The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra



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[1] R. Conrad Stein, The Boston Tea Part, [New York: Children's Press, 1996] 19

[2] ibid, 19

[3] Nancy Furstinger, The Boston Tea Party, [Mankato: Bridgestone Books, 2002] 33

[4] ibid, 33-34

[5] Ibid, 37

[6] Stein, 26-28

[7] Furstinger, 20

[8] Furstinger, 10

[9] Larry J. Sabato, The Party's Not Over

[10] Moses 4:3 "Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man…. I caused that he should be cast down."

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