The significant event prompted by the Boston Tea Party in 1773 was the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The Boston Tea Party was a protest against the British Tea Act, which imposed taxes without colonial representation. Colonists, disguised as Native Americans, dumped an entire shipment of tea into Boston Harbor in December 1773 as a form of resistance. This act of defiance led to increased tensions between Britain and the American colonies. In response, the British government enacted the Coercive Acts, which further restricted colonial autonomy, provoking a unified colonial response that eventually culminated in the war for independence.