Boston tea-party Three cargoes of tea destroyed (1773)

After Britain won the French and Indian War, it faced massive debt, both due to the war and due to multiple other factors, such as debts resulting from ongoing conflict with neighboring Spain. For this reason, British Parliament voted to tax their American colonies, telling colonial leadership that the taxes were necessary to ensure their own protection against Native American Indian attacks. Colonists did not view Native Americans as a continued threat and were outraged by this new form of taxation without representation.