The colonies refused to pay the levies required by the Townsend Acts claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by a Parliament in which they had no representation. In response, Parliament retracted the taxes with the exception of a duty on tea – a demonstration of Parliament’s ability and right to tax the colonies. In May of 1773 Parliament concocted a clever plan. They gave the struggling East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to America. Additionally, Parliament reduced the duty the colonies would have to pay for the imported tea. The Americans would now get their tea at a cheaper price than ever before. However, if the colonies paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament’s right to tax them. Tea was a staple of colonial life – it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a cup of tea.

The colonists were not fooled by Parliament’s ploy. When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was consigned to a warehouse where it remained for three years until it was sold by patriots in order to help finance the revolution.

In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men, some disguised as Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.

Most colonists applauded the action while the reaction in London was swift and vehement. In March 1774 Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts which among other measures closed the Port of Boston. The fuse that led directly to the explosion of American independence was lit.

Take your tea and shove it.

George Hewes was a member of the band of “Indians” that boarded the tea ships that evening. His recollection of the event was published some years later. We join his story as the group makes its way to the tea-laden ships:

“It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin’s wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place of our destination.

When we arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships which contained the tea at the same time. The name of him who commanded the division to which I was assigned was Leonard Pitt. The names of the other commanders I never knew. We were immediately ordered by the respective commanders to board all the ships at the same time, which we promptly obeyed. The commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the ship, appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and delivered the articles; but requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or rigging. We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water.

In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time. We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us.

…The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it were floating upon the surface of the water; and to prevent the possibility of any of its being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles so thoroughly drenched it as to render its entire destruction inevitable.”

References:
   Hawkes, James A, Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party, with a Memoir of George R. T. Hewes… (1834) reprinted in Commager, Henry Steele, Morris Richard B., The Spirit of ‘Seventy-Six vol I (1958); Labaree, Benjamin Woods, The Boston Tea Party (1964).

The Sons of Liberty tarring and feathering a tax collector underneath the Liberty Tree

So get your favorate Indian head dress and garb ready for one heck of a 4th of July party!  The Liberty Tree Lantern recommends not to forget to prepare your effigies in the likeness of your least favorate Congressmen like Senator Harry pork Reid or our Speaker of the House Nancy spend all the taxpayer money you can, give nothing back, Pelosi  or the head Communist in Chief himself B.O..  Of course we shouldn’t forget the creators of “The Matrix” (Our Economy that only exists as programmed into our minds, created by wealth printed out of thin air, paper and ink monopoly money), THE FEDERAL RESERVE!  We need to hang a few of them for sure! 

How about a few hanging effigy pinnatas?  Yeah we could hang them under Liberty Trees and stick them with pitchforks!   Now that’s an Independence Day celebration!

Seeing as how the first effigy of Senator Harry Reid was strung up last Independence Day at the Menominee Memorial Park in the U.P. of Michigan, which is right by the Menominee Marina, perhaps we here in the twin cities of Marinette / Menominee ought to take advantage of our area and have a few yachts setup for a mock Boston Tea Party just offshore of the Marina.

I know we have a designated Liberty Tree nearby for those who would like to tar and feather or hang an effigy of their least favorate Congressmen and women.  Bring patriotic signs and Gadsden flags to display from our Menomoninee, MI  Liberty Tree for the event.  All taxpayers are invited.  Everybody to dress up as a patriot or an Indian.

Here is some information on other Tea Parties being planned around America: http://www.reteaparty.com/2009/03/reteaparty-podcast/

The noble Mr. Chad M. Fradette is running for Wisconsin State Senate for the 30th District, which is North Eastern WI from just south of Green Bay and up.  This covers DePere, Green Bay, Suamico, Oconto, Peshtigo, Colmen, Marinette and surrounding areas.

If you are looking for freedom, lower taxes, lower spending and prosperity for Wisconsin citizens, it looks like we have a candidate who is on our side.  The honorable Chad M. Fradette, who already has plans to protect us from the U.S. Congress.  See this exciting news below.  These are actual e-mails regarding State of Wisconsin sovereignty bill simular to the Oklahoma Joint Resolution 1089 by State Representative Charles Key:

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Thank you for your reply, Mr. Fradette.

I appreciate all of the sentiments you have conveyed in your reply, sir.  I would, however, like to point out that changes to The Constitution can be as fraught with menace to our freedom as illegal transgressions by contemporary legislators.  According to my research of the writings and concerns of our founding fathers, it is my understanding, especially highlighted by Thomas Jefferson as well as others, that the shackles of the Constitution were purposely forged financially short so that the Federal Government would be prevented from doing all the mayhem they are, yielding high taxes, high living costs, low wages and salaries, lost jobs, high health care costs, unbearable energy costs a diminished economy from what it could have been and expensive sustenance, as a result of actions that fall well beyond the enumerated powers allotted; many of which appear to me to be highly illegal and I would dare say treasonous for the dismantling of our liberty and prosperity.

I believe that holding the Federal Government, by the State of Wisconsin, at arms length, as the agents of the States as it is supposed to be in accordance with The Constitution and The Declaration, “may” help to divert a calamity resulting from what I call a “perfect storm” that has been ominously brewing for quite some time just over the horizon and which appears to be now either heading our way fast or perhaps upon us as evidenced in a multitude of bank closings, mortgage bailouts, declining dollar and massively increasing costs of all kinds not least of which are Social Security and Medicare at $90 TRILLION in UNFUNDED liabilities over the infinite horizon.  

There are some people in our area and around the country who I know who are very angry at the U.S. Congress; And, for good reason.  It appears that Democrats in our State legislature may be birds of a tax and spend socialist feather.  This is why my wife and I, sir, are going to support a Constitutionalist like you who understands the virtue of liberty.  It appears that you are a person who may not be prone to use taxation against his own constituents for the purposes of manipulation, control, and tyranny as Federal counterparts in Congress are doing daily.  You can count on our votes and our support!

I humbly thank you for your honorable pledged support in the subject endeavor for the freedom and financial protections it may afford our Wisconsin citizens as the perfect storm approaches; in the face of which, I can only hope that our sister States have legislators who are as astute. I would hope that if enough states would show such backbone, the Federal Government might be compelled to initiate the carefully stepped reversal of scofflaw legislation and return to the size, scope and enumerated powers relegated by The Constitution.

Message text follows:

July 22, 2008

[recipient address was inserted here]

 [recipient name was inserted here],

I am writing to you about the proposed economic stimulus package being considered in the Senate Appropriations Committee this week.

Listen Democrats and RINOs.  We need to let FREEDOM (from Government) undo the whole mess you created through your constitutionally contemptuous legislation and behaviors.  You all need to go back and read both our founding documents and reverse the damage you have done since the inception of The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and the sham of what you think allows you to control the people in the land of THE FREE by the way of taxes and a humongous Federal Government that was never intended to exist by our Founders as evidenced by numerous writings, documents and formal records of the members of the Continental Congress. 

There were specific reasons why the Federal Government was created with a very limited ability to raise funding by way of the tax / apportionment clause of the Constitution and the concerns of Thomas Jefferson and, later, President Jackson with regards to a “central bank”. 

Now We The People are suffering hardships for your end run around The Constitution and The Declaration of Independence.  These hardships will be far worse than the “normal” business cycles which naturally occur with the prosperity that FREEDOM generates, and of which your predecessors and the powerful banker interests used as an excuse to legislate and pass The Federal Reserve Act; which has resulted in endless funding of endless programs by the Federal Government, yielding a usurpation of our power as masters over our servant Government. 

In order to cover the interest on ceaseless borrowing from the central bank, which is completely unconstitutional, your predecessors have claimed to have overridden The Constitutional clause that forbids a direct tax on our fellow countrymen.  But yet there are Supreme Court cases clearly stating that the Sixteenth Amendment has no tax impact on ordinary American earnings and thus the only legal tax is an apportioned tax, which we all realize is politically unsustainable over the long run (and for good reasons of which we now learn through contemporary experience). 

nothing to back up its value or the “promise to pay” of said “NOTE”.  

Meanwhile our economy is crashing around us as you refuse to allow freedom to work to allow for the harvesting of domestic energy supplies in and around our country; All as a result of your actions, behaviors and contempt for The Constitution.  And, yet you continue to create Socialist programs that economically and mathematically can not support themselves.

According to The Washington Times article of July 2nd, 2007 Op-Ed, Social Security and Medicare ALONE, will be $90 TRILLION DOLLARS in UNFUNDED debt, over the infinite horizon.  Who is going to pay for that?  I sure to God hope you are not even thinking about taking more money out of our take-home pay in the form of “payroll” taxes and withholding!  Especially at a time that we can not afford to pay for our gasoline, utility, and food bills all due to your contempt for the rule of law as ordained and established by us through the Constitution of the United States.  Who the hell are you to make us so dependent on Socialism that you make some of us believe we could never do without it?  The fact is you are actually and knowingly making it so.  Why, for the power you will then be able to usurp from us to the point that there is then no FREEDOM (from Government) at all?

You should all be ashamed!  I am utterly disgusted with nearly all of you in both houses of Congress.

Mark my words, Congressmen; Someday the American people will fully wakeup and realize what you have done to us.  We will self educate ourselves, necessary due to the fact that we have not been taught about freedom (which, according to our founding fathers means freedom from and power OVER Government through self-governance) and the prosperity and low prices that it brings, through the government sponsored school system that has left such a void of American history, heritage, economics and basic constitutional knowledge of our rights and enumerated powers of the Federal Government.  But wakeup we will, for the urgency of the damage and the oncoming hardship that you have and are causing to us and our posterity, for your constitutionally scofflaw behaviors will make life unbearable and will certainly cause the American Dream, our very way of life and the very essence of our FREEDOM to otherwise disappear into the darkness of the chains and bondage of the soup kitchens of the Socialist welfare state.  Personally I don’t know how you can live with yourselves for the mockery you have done to your constitutional oath and to your own countrymen.

If you had any hint of decency you would enact legislation to reverse the course of Government, shrink it’s size to THE Constitutionally intended size and enumerated powers/responsibilities and educate the public on why you are reversing and stepping down all Federal Socialist programs for the good of the economy, the long term economic health for our people and for FREEDOM.  Additionally and most especially you need to coin and mint our money as the LAW requires in the constitution and omit The Federal Reserve System, which is nothing more than a private closely held company that collects nearly all OUR income taxes in the form of interest.  Why are we paying interest on our own tax money, that the Government “borrows” from The Federal Reserve company who collects it from us through the IRS, anyway?

the anti Dean Yeeeaaah said: 

Sorry for the correction, anti Dean, but comprehensive “democracy” is Socialism and/or Communism.

How did I get there? …

True and comprehensive “democracy” is where 51% of the people control, manipulate, tyrannize, oppress and STEAL money from the other 49%.  We are headed for a democracy and that is what the problem is RIGHT NOW.

We DO NOT have a democracy, Thank God, because it does not allow for INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM (from Government).  Our Founding Fathers studied this exact subject matter extensively and that is why we have a republican form of Government.  Take note the following quotes:

• A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. – Thomas Jefferson

 **************************************

• 
  

  Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations.  1989.

  NUMBER:	1593
  AUTHOR:	Benjamin Franklin (1706–90)
  QUOTATION:	“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”   “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
  ATTRIBUTION:	The response is attributed to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN—at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation—in the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention.   McHenry’s notes were first published in The American Historical Review, vol. 11, 1906, and the anecdote on p. 618 reads: “A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy. A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.” When McHenry’s notes were included in The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, ed. Max Farrand, vol. 3, appendix A, p. 85 (1911, reprinted 1934)                       ********************************************

• Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. – Thomas Jefferson

•  With regards to words of the darkside of the force: “How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!”  – Samuel Adams 

I understand and agree with your foundational point and assessment of many people who call themselves “liberals”.  It is still true, however, and must be confronted that most “liberals” believe that Government is there to “help” or “assist” us.  These “Liberals” refuse to see or understand that with “help” or “assistance” drops off the other shoe which houses tyranny, oppression, and despotism which always results in kicking us in our arses and our wallets, for these terms when combined with “government” results in the equal distribution of misery otherwise known as Socialism or Communism.

Best wishes in Freedom, my friend and fellow patriot.  Keep up the good fight and please keep posting.  We all need to understand every thing we can so that we can regain our FREEDOM, individual power and prosperity that has been usurped by the U.S. Congress.  As you imply we must fight the dark forces that would work to shut down our communication lines such as talk radio.  Next will be blogs and forums like this!  We The People must stop them!

Government will not stop itself, it is a ravenous monster, stealing, raiding and mashing our FREEDOM and our money.  And, it must be stopped.  To do that we must engage a critical mass of Americans.  We must not only wake them from slumber but get them motivated to do anything and everything they / WE can!

Oh, BTW, I saw an effigy of Senator Harry Reid complete with a full suit, tie and eye glasses, this Independence Day morning in Menominee, MI at Menominee Memorial Park.  It had a sign around it’s neck that quoted Senator Harry Reid; “We will allow more drilling for oil, in The Gulf of Mexico, so you can have lower gasoline, energy and food prices, OVER MY DEAD BODY.”  The sign also had the picture of him giving “the finger” to the American people as he spoke on the floor of the Senate, as posted elsewhere in this forum.  I guess this means we can drill for oil and have cheap energy once again!  Yeah!  Gee, I wonder how that effigy got there? hanging from a tree posted as “The Liberty Tree”, with other signs and founding father quotations and information about several matters of usurpation and The Federal Reserve.  Isn’t that awful? Ha, ha, ha…  Nothing like a few fireworks on Independence Day, ala Son’s of Liberty style…

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!  I leave you with another quote from Samuel Adams, my kind of guy and a member of The Sons of Liberty:

“Beer and chocolate are two pleasures that should be enjoyed and savored, … We knew that we were up to the challenge to create an unexpected brew that could perfectly complement a Valentine’s Day meal or be given as a special gift.” – Samuel Adams  (One of our Founding Fathers not the beer maker)

A toast to Independence Day and Samuel Adams!  Here, Here!

Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.

   www.americansolutions.com features the Drill Here.  Drill Now.  Pay Less. petition.  This short, yet powerful petition is a splash ice cold reality water on the faces of our elected officials.  Here is their latest progress update:
 
 

Help American Solutions get to three million.  Sign up today.

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