Boston Tea Party 1783

Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki created this print, titled "Boston Tea Party," using etching. The work depicts an act of defiance that served as a prologue to the American Revolution. Note that the artist was German. It was made in Europe for a European audience. Look at the image itself. The artist could only have known about the event through secondary sources. The image creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations. How does it cast the "Indians" and people of color in relation to the white people engaged in a tax revolt? What does that say about the artist's assumptions about the social and political forces at play in the colony of Boston? Does it critique the institutions of art? These questions, which are at the heart of historical inquiry, encourage a deeper exploration of the subject. We might turn to period newspapers, pamphlets, and other documents, to see how they resonate with the image we see here.