Which event involved patriots dumping chests of tea into Boston Harbor in resistance to a British act?

The event where patriots dumped chests of tea into Boston Harbor in defiance of British rule is known as the Boston Tea Party. This protest took place on December 16, 1773, and was a response to the Tea Act, which granted the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies while still imposing taxes on the tea. The act angered many colonists who felt it violated their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without representation.

During the Boston Tea Party, American colonists, disguised as Mohawk Indians to conceal their identities, boarded three British ships and threw 342 chests of tea overboard. This act of defiance was significant as it escalated tensions between Britain and the American colonies and set the stage for further resistance against British policies, ultimately contributing to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.

The other events listed—such as the Boston Massacre, which involved violence against colonists by British troops, the Intolerable Acts, which were punitive measures taken by Britain in response to colonial protests, and the First Continental Congress, which was a gathering of colonial delegates to address grievances—did not involve the act of dumping tea into the harbor and are therefore not the correct answer.