A Teaparty Timeline: Tea Party through the years

Most people think that the Tea Partiers are just a recent and U.S. phenomenon. Wrong! In fact, there are currently Tea Party groups in hundreds of countries around the world, with over 900 million active members. Not only that, but Teapartiers - or those adhering to Tea Party ideals - have been around for thousands of years.

Join us now as we take a trip down memory lane to learn about Teapartiers of the Past:

* In 2010, teaparty valiantly continues to impact elections from coast to coast and grows in power with each day. Approximately 100 million Americans identify themselves as active tea party members in the U.S., and well over a billion worldwide.

* In 2009, teaparty valiantly began their year-long silent protest against illegal immigration, prefering to concentrate on more important things like spending.

* In 2005, teaparty valiantly helped Japan deploy new battleships to defend against whales.

* In 2003, teaparty valiantly worked to free the Cuban Five. Eight months later, they realized that the email with their orders had come from CodePink and not from Dick Armey of Freedomworks as they'd thought.

* In 2001, teaparty valiantly began their eight-year silent protest against the Bush administration.

* In the 80s, teaparty valiantly fought for free trade, winning China's highest honor.

* In the 80s, teaparty valiantly fought against Communist Socialist laws designed to prevent the dumping of toxic waste.

* In 1984, teaparty valiantly formed the Citizens for Union Carbide Liberty Committee.

* In the 60s, teaparty valiantly worked to portray anyone opposing Goldwater as a Communist.

* In the 50s, teaparty valiantly submitted names of questionable neighbors to Sen. Joe McCarthy.

* In the 30s, teaparty valiantly fought for free trade, winning highest honors from both IG Farben and Mitsubishi.

* In the 1870s, teaparty valiantly fought against socialist land grabs for "National Parks".

* In the 1800s, teaparty valiantly fought to add the "caps lock" feature to the "type-writer".

* In the 1800s, teaparty valiantly fought for the rights of Trusts and opposed the Communist Socialist Trotskyite "Trust Busters".

* In the 1800s, teaparty valiantly fought for the rights of children to work as many hours as they wanted.

* In the 1800s, teaparty valiantly created hundreds of workhouses for indigent children.

* In the 1800s, teaparty valiantly fought to help Russian landowners keep *all* their property.

Feel free to scour trustworthy sources like Wikipedia for other teaparty historical facts and leave them in comments. And, see the tea parties page for our extensive coverage of their movement.