The Boston Tea Party protested against the British government's imposition of taxes on tea without representation. Specifically, it was a reaction to the Tea Act of 1773, which granted the British East India Company the right to sell tea directly to the colonies while effectively monopolizing the tea trade. Colonists, who felt that this taxation violated their rights as Englishmen by denying them representation in Parliament, organized a protest where they disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. This act of defiance galvanized colonial opposition to British rule and escalated tensions that led to the American Revolutionary War.