Opposition to the The Tea Act led to the historical event known as the Boston Tea Party . One hundred Bostonians disguised as American Indians boarded British ships anchored in the harbor and dumped 342 chests of tea that belonged to the East India Company.

Consequences of the Tea Act
Despite the economic benefit to end consumers of tea, the Tea Act damaged the position of independent shippers, smugglers and local shopkeepers. John Hancock was a well known tea smuggler whose tea inventory was seized by custom officials. Powerful business interest and  convinced the population to view the act as another means of  as they did not have the freedom to buy tea from other merchants at the same price as from selected official merchants.
Colonists showed their opposition to the Tea Act through the Boston Tea …

The Tea Act was intended to benefit the East India Company by giving them the monopoly of the American tea market. Colonist perceived it as another means of “taxation without representation”.