“They got drunk, painted themselves like Indians and pushed tea bags into the Boston Harbor, which we in Rhode Island think is pretty weak tea compared to blowing up the goddamn boat and shooting its captain. But you know, all those Massachusetts people went on to become president and run Harvard… So they told their story, and their story, and their story.
”— Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), quoted by the Washington Post, arguing that Rhode Island’s 1772 attack on the HMS Gaspee was more important than the 1773 Boston Tea Party.