Commentary
Sugar, of all things, may not seem a very apt symbol of liberty under siege, but who imagined what another commodity, tea, would come to mean to the American colonists in 1773?
We read in grammar school how the Sons of Liberty dressed as Indians and hid themselves on board three ships carrying tea from the British East India Company, proceeding to dump the precious cargo into Boston Harbor to prevent the British parliament from imposing taxation without representation.
The day after, John Adams would write: “This destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important consequences, and so lasting, that I can’t but consider it as an epoch in history.”…