The Boston Tea Party of 1773 is the most famous incidence of "tea parties" held to protest the British government and its taxes on the American colonies. British leaders and the British people marveled at the excitement of the Americans over a tax of merely three pence, while Americans fumed at the arrogance of their Old World countrymen in their attempts to rule them from afar without proper representation in government. In the end, the conflict was almost as much about words and misunderstandings as about the tea itself. From that time comes the modern phrase "a tempest in a teapot," which accurately describes the sensations of the two years that preceded the American Revolution. The Boston Tea Party ably describes the events and participants of this American protest, as well as its significance in the scheme of American independence.