The primary outcome of the Boston Tea Party protest was a significant escalation in tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain. In December 1773, colonists, frustrated by taxation without representation and the monopoly of the British East India Company, disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. This act of defiance prompted the British government to enact punitive measures known as the Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts in 1774. These laws further restricted colonial autonomy and contributed to the growing desire for independence, ultimately leading to the American Revolution.