Public Domain Mark
You can use this work for any purpose without restriction under copyright law. Read more about this licence.
Credit
Boston, Massachusetts: John Malcolm, a customs official, is lowered by ropes from his house on to a cart and tarred and feathered by a crowd protesting against taxation. Engraving by F. Godefroy, 1784. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
The Boston Tea Party (16 December 1773) was an incident in which 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into Boston Harbour by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. The Americans were protesting against both a tax on tea (taxation without representation) and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company. The following year there was a separate protest in Boston: a customs official named John Malcolm, who was responsible for imposing the tax, was removed from his house, tarred and feathered, forced to consume tea and drink a toast to King George III, and was beaten before being set free. The present print shows Malcolm being lowered from an upper floor of his house on to a cart. A woman on the left holds a cauldron of tar, and a woman next to her has a basket of feathers
| Location | Status | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|
Closed stores |