Prologue. The finest country in the world ; The old régime -- Pt. 1: The empire of speculation. The tiger's mouth ; "This dark affair": the Gaspée incident ; A bankrupt age ; The unhappiness of Lord North ; Ignorance and bad policy -- Pt. 2: The sending of the tea. The East India crisis ; Whigs, West Indians and Thomas Hutchinson ; Massachusetts on the eve ; The Boston Tea Party: prelude ; The Boston Tea Party: climax -- Pt. 3: Down the slope. The cabinet in winter ; "Boston must be destroyed" ; The revolution begins ; An election in Arcadia ; The arming of America ; The fatal dispatch -- Epilogue: The noble dead.