Revolutionary leaders and representatives of the king discussed a possible peace treaty over afternoon tea. Angry colonists boarded British merchant ships and hurled crates of tea into Boston Harbor. Constitutional Army troops under the command of George Washington boarded British merchant ships and hurled crates of tea into Boston Harbor. British merchants, angry with the American colonists for not paying taxes, destroyed their cargos of tea, thereby creating the 'tea famine' that led to the American Revolution. ▶ Next Question ◀