The Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man, or Tarring & Feathering

As reports of resistance to British taxes in colonial America reached London, the publishers Sayer and Bennett responded with a series of prints. The first centers on Boston following the Tea Act of 1773, one of many tariffs that Parliament imposed on goods exported to the colonies. An early representation of the Boston Tea Party—the destruction of British cargo in December 1773—appears in the background. Beside it is a depiction of the January 1774 attack on customs agent John Malcolm, who is shown tarred and feathered, forced to guzzle tea, and threatened with hanging. Accounts of these incidents outraged Londoners and encouraged new efforts to control the colony.