Intolerable Acts

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The Intolerable Acts, called by the British the Coercive Acts or Punitive Acts, were a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 in response to the growing unrest in thirteen American colonies, particularly in Boston, Massachusetts after incidents such as the Boston Tea Party. Enforcement of the Acts played a major role in the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War and the establishment of the First Continental Congress.

This British cartoon, depicting the acts as assaults upon an anthropomorphic Boston, was quickly copied and distributed by Paul Revere to all the colonies. [1]

The Coercive Acts included:

The Quebec Act was also passed in 1774, but it was a piece of legislation unrelated to the Coercive Acts. American Whigs, however, were alarmed by the Quebec Act as much as the Coercive Acts, and they labeled it one of the "Intolerable Acts". Their main complaints over the Quebec Act were the protections granted to the Indian territories and to the Catholic settlers in Ohio. These were viewed as attempts to halt expansion into the west and to strengthen a church that many opposed and resented.

The acts had several different effects. The Massachusetts Government Act effectively did away with elective government making almost all positions in the government appointed, and under the Seal of Great Britain. The Administration of Justice Act authorized the Governor of Massachusetts to transfer any trial to Great Britain, and authorized coercive action to provide witnessess at those trials. The Boston Port Act effectively closed the Port of Boston until damages for the Boston Tea Party were paid (however, they never were). The Quartering Act required that troops be housed not only in commercial and empty buildings but in occupied dwellings as well.

These acts unintentionally promoted sympathy for the revolutionaries in Massachusetts, and encouraged revolutionaries from the otherwise diverse colonies to band together. However, the Quebec Act had the opposite effect among French Catholics in the Province of Quebec, encouraging many of them to either pragmatic inaction or support for the Crown.

The Intolerable Acts were also a supporting factor behind the calling of the First Continental Congress and the Declaration of Rights and Grievances. The Continental Congress dealt with the Intolerable Acts by creating the Continental Association. This was an agreement to boycott British goods and if that did not get the acts reversed after a year, to stop exporting goods to Great Britain as well. The Intolerable Acts were the last straw for both Great Britain and the colonies. On 19 April, 1775 tensions escalated and the colonial militia and British soldiers fought at Lexington and Concord, touching off the American Revolution.