In October 1773, seven ships set sail for the American colonies loaded with cargoes of taxed tea from Great Britain’s East India Company. These ships set off a firestorm of protests throughout the American colonies at the end of that year and into 1774. These events, including an important tea protest in Charleston in early December, and the more famous “Tea Party” in Boston in mid-December, set the stage for American independence and the birth of a new nation.