The Day of the Tea Party
There was little planning ahead involved in the Boston Tea Party. On the night of the Boston Tea Party, December 16th 1773, citizens in Boston had arranged to meet with the Governor of Massachusetts to discuss what actions should be taken regarding the tea that had arrived on November 27th. The Sons of Liberty, a group of courageous demonstrators notorious for brash acts of revolt, had prevented the ships from unloading their cargo until then. The law, though, stated that if the tea was not unloaded within 20 days of its arrival, then it would be sold to pay custom duties. Thomas Hutchinson, the Governor of Massachusetts, did not show up. The people at the church where the meeting was to be held decided then to go to Griffin's Wharf where the tea was located and show Parliament a thing or two.
Getting to The Docks
Before they could execute the actual dumping of tea into the Boston Harbor, the Sons of Liberty had to arrange the participants into three groups because there were three ships containing tea. There were about 60 people participating in the dumping, so a leader was appointed to each group. The most interesting part of the preparation was how the colonists dressed so that they would not be identified by authorities. Their aim was to disguise themselves as Native Americans. Said George Hewes in a memoir, "It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust..." (Hewes paragraph 5). After they were suited up and ready to go, they boarded the ships.