During the Boston Tea Party of 1773, American rebels dumped 45 tons of tea from the British East India Company into the Boston Harbor, destroying about a million dollars worth (in today's value) of merchandise. Contrary to what you learned in history class, you may be surprised about the real reason behind the famous Tea Party.

You might remember that the Boston Tea Party participants were angry because the new Tea Act raised taxes on tea in the New World. In reality, the Tea Act made tea cheaper by giving the East India Company a monopoly on importing tea to the colonies, and allowing them to ship it directly to America without stopping in England.

This might sound like a good thing for tea drinkers in the American colonies, but it cut out middlemen and smugglers who feared for their profits, now that the Brits could ship tea directly to consumers. The Tea Party protest was less about "no taxation without representation" and more about individuals looking out for their own self-interest.