The signification of growing discontent among colonists against British rule was embodied in the Boston Tea Party of 1773. This protest was a reaction to the Tea Act, which granted the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies and levied taxes without representation. Discontented colonists, including the Sons of Liberty, responded by dumping an entire shipment of tea into Boston Harbor as an act of defiance against taxation policies. This event galvanized colonial resistance, leading to harsher British responses and ultimately contributing to the broader revolutionary movement seeking independence from British rule.