The Boston Tea Party was a protest against The Tea Act in 1773, which was an act that helped the East India Company (a British tea company) that had fallen into debt. The act allowed The East India Company to ship its goods directly to its own agents in America without letting the colonist trade the tea. The colonists felt that this was unfair to the merchants and wholesalers who had been selling tea as their trade. The punitive acts that the British Parliament had been enforcing were nicknamed ''The Intolerable Acts'' by the Colonist after they had been punished for protesing for their rights.