Seeks to correct the view set forth by various writers who have based their statements on an assertion by Thomas Hutchinson, made about 1778, that Samuel Adams and the Boston committee of correspondence forced the tea ships in December 1773 to tie up at the Boston wharves and then prevented their return to England. By reference to documents contemporary with the Tea Party, including some by Hutchinson himself, the author shows that the Whigs in fact tried to have the tea sent back to England, provided it could be done without payment of duty, and that Governor Hutchinson must bear the ultimate responsibility for preventing this action. Likewise, but without extensive discussion, the author questions the belief that Adams was responsible for the decision of the Minute Men to confront the British troops at Lexington.