The event in 1773 that demonstrated the American colonists' growing discontent with British taxation was the Boston Tea Party. This protest was a response to the Tea Act of 1773, which granted the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies, enabling it to undersell local merchants while essentially enforcing taxation without representation. On December 16, colonists, disguised as Native Americans, boarded three British ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor as an act of defiance. This event escalated tensions between Britain and the colonies, ultimately contributing to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.