<P> By "constitution" he referred to the idea that all governments have a constitution, written or not, and that the constitution of Great Britain could be interpreted as banning the levying of taxes without representation . For example, the Bill of Rights of 1689 established that long - term taxes could not be levied without Parliament, and other precedents said that Parliament must actually represent the people it ruled over, in order to "count". </P> <P> Governor Thomas Hutchinson had been urging London to take a hard line with the Sons of Liberty . If he had done what the other royal governors had done and let the ship owners and captains resolve the issue with the colonists, Dartmouth, Eleanor and Beaver would have left without unloading any tea . </P> <P> In Britain, even those politicians considered friends of the colonies were appalled and this act united all parties there against the colonies . The Prime Minister Lord North said, "Whatever may be the consequence, we must risk something; if we do not, all is over". The British government felt this action could not remain unpunished, and responded by closing the port of Boston and putting in place other laws known as the "Intolerable Acts ." Benjamin Franklin stated that the destroyed tea must be paid for, all ninety thousand pounds (which, at two shillings per pound, came to £ 9,000, or £ 1.05 million (2014, approx . $1.7 million US)). Robert Murray, a New York merchant, went to Lord North with three other merchants and offered to pay for the losses, but the offer was turned down . </P> <P> The incident resulted in a similar effect in America when news of the Boston Tea Party reached London in January and Parliament responded with a series of acts known collectively in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts . These were intended to punish Boston for the destruction of private property, restore British authority in Massachusetts, and otherwise reform colonial government in America . Although the first two, the Boston Port Act and the Massachusetts Government Act, applied only to Massachusetts, colonists outside that colony feared that their governments could now also be changed by legislative fiat in England . The Intolerable Acts were viewed as a violation of constitutional rights, natural rights, and colonial charters, and united many colonists throughout America, exemplified by the calling of the First Continental Congress in September 1774 . </P>

Who paid for the tea in the boston tea party
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