Question

If the tea that the east india trading company sold was much less expensive than smuggled tea was, why did the colonists refuse to buy it?

a. the east india trading company was selling inferior tea to the colonists.
b. colonists did not like the idea of the east india trading company having a monopoly.
c. the price of the tea still contained a tax paid to britain.
d. american colonists wanted to produce their own tea crop.

Answer 1

Colonists rejected the East India Trading Company's cheap tea because buying it would implicitly acknowledge Britain's right to tax them without representation, despite it undercutting the price of smuggled tea.

Step-by-step explanation:

The colonists refused to buy tea from the East India Trading Company not because it was inferior, but because they saw the cheap tea as a way for Britain to enforce a tax on them without their consent. This was emblematic of the broader issue of 'no taxation without representation.' The Tea Act of 1773 granted the East India Company a monopoly and allowed it to undercut smuggled Dutch tea, which many colonists drank as a patriotic protest. Despite the lowered prices, the continued presence of the tax and the monopoly deeply rankled colonists who coveted economic freedom and fair trade practices.

The colonial merchants were excluded from the tea trade by the monopoly, reducing their profits and exacerbating their frustration. The tax policy embodied by the Revenue Act was seen as a form of economic protectionism that favored the British East India Company over colonial interests. Furthermore, colonists feared the cheap tea was a strategic ploy to force them into accepting British-imposed taxes, threatening their principle of self-governance.