The Boston Tea Party is best described as which form of protest?

• A. Economic boycott
• B. Civil disobedience
• C. Diplomatic negotiation
• D. Military action

Answer: (B)

Civil disobedience is deliberate noncompliance with laws to protest government policy, often chosen to attract public attention and apply moral pressure. In Boston, colonists dumped taxed tea into the harbor to oppose the Tea Act, a public act that violated the law by destroying property and challenging British authority, with the aim of compelling Parliament to revoke or change the policy. This isn’t just a boycott of purchasing tea; it’s a direct illegal action intended to protest policy. It isn’t diplomatic negotiation, which would involve talks with authorities, nor military action, which would involve force. So the best description is civil disobedience.