The Tea Party protests were a series of protests throughout the United States that began in early 2009. The protests were part of the larger political
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...
. Most Tea Party activities have since been focused on opposing efforts of the
Obama Administration
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
, and on recruiting, nominating, and supporting candidates for state and national elections.
The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea ...
, whose principal aim was to protest
taxation without representation
"No taxation without representation" is a political slogan that originated in the American Revolution, and which expressed one of the primary grievances of the Thirteen Colonies, American colonists for Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain. In ...
. Tea Party protests evoked images, slogans and themes from the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, such as
tri-corner hats and yellow
Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me" flags.
The letters T-E-A have been used by some protesters to form the
backronym
A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...
"Taxed Enough Already".
Commentators promoted Tax Day events on various blogs,