The primary goal of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 was to protest the Tea Act imposed by the British government, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea at reduced prices while undermining colonial merchants. The colonists viewed this act as another example of taxation without representation, as it was imposed without their consent. The Boston Tea Party, in which colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor, became a symbol of resistance against British rule and ignited further revolutionary sentiments among the colonies.