Final answer:
Samuel Adams was the key figure involved in the Boston Tea Party and helped instigate the Revolutionary War.
Step-by-step explanation:
The individual most closely associated with instigating the Revolutionary War and being involved in the Boston Tea Party is Samuel Adams.
Samuel Adams was a key figure in organizing resistance against British policies and played a significant role in the events leading up to the Revolutionary War.
He was a leader of the Sons of Liberty, a group of patriots who protested British taxation, including the Tea Act of 1773 which led to the Boston Tea Party. During this event, Adams and others, dressed as Native Americans, boarded ships in Boston Harbor and dumped chests of tea into the water to protest taxation without representation.