Why did the patriots dress up as Mohawks during the Boston Tea Party?
Many common responses say that the colonists from Boston intended to hide their identity from the British, as their acts would most certainly lead to harsh punishments. More recently understood is the idea that subterfuge was not the intent of the costumes. In fact, it is assumed that the colonists knew they would be recognized as non-Native Americans. Dressing as “Indians” was the colonists’ symbolic way of showing the British shipping captains that the colonists were beginning to identify themselves as “Americans” rather than British citizens.
