The Annapolis Tea Party

On October 19, 1774, Annapolis experienced its own “tea party,” much like the uprising the year before in Boston Harbor. Angry mobs forced Anthony Stewart to burn his ship, Peggy Stewart, and the tea it carried, because he had violated the non-importation resolution implemented by the colonists. Stewart paid the tax to ensure that the ship’s main cargo of indentured servants would be allowed to disembark at the port of Annapolis.

Colonists had boycotted the importation of tea and other goods from Britain because they felt they were being unfairly taxed without representation. The burning of the Peggy Stewart in the Annapolis harbor was a violent demonstration of the revolutionary fervor brewing in Maryland just prior to the outbreak of the war.

The original 1896 painting is on display in the Old House of Delegates Chamber.

Primary Sources Documenting the Burning of the Peggy Stewart