The primary outcome of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 was the escalation of tensions between the American colonists and the British government, leading to the American Revolutionary War. This act of protest was a direct response to the Tea Act, which granted the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies while imposing taxes without representation. Colonists, disguised as Native Americans, dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor as a symbol of defiance. In retaliation, the British enacted the Intolerable Acts, which further united the colonies against British rule and fostered the desire for independence.