On December 16, 1773, three coordinated groups of New Englanders sneaked on board three of the East India Company's ships in Boston Harbor, located several hundred chests of tea (worth over a million U.S. dollars in today's currency), and flung the tea overboard. This action followed a boycott of the East India Company's tea and a pamphleteering campaign designed to raise awareness and consciousness of New Englanders about the Tea Act of 1773, which (among other things) raised taxes paid by colonists on tea. While most remember these as some of the key events kicking off the American Revolution and, as such, directed at the British crown, it is important to recognize that these events were also some of the first anticorporate events in American history.

What were the New Englanders so incensed about? At the heart of this early protest campaign was anger at a multinational company, which had all but achieved a monopoly, and the British government, which supported the East India Company. Because the East India Company had amassed a large surplus of tea in England and was competing with American tea smugglers in the colonies, the Company was at risk of losing a great deal of money. The King and many Members of Parliament held shares of the Company and thus passed the Tea Act of 1773, which increased taxes paid by colonists on tea, while simultaneously lowering taxes levied on the Company so it could offer its tea at a far lower price than smaller companies, thereby driving smaller companies out of business.