Where it Began
The Boston Tea Party is the event that sparked the creation of the Coercive Acts, more commonly known as the Intolerable Acts, by the British Parliament.
The Parliament Gathers
Artifact 1: A painting: W.D. Cooper. "Boston Tea Party".
Source: The History of North America. London:E Newberry, 1789. Engraving. Plate opposite p. 58.
The British saw taxing the American colonists as a way to get out of the debt created by the French and Indian War, while also reestablishing it's power over the colonial government who had started becoming independent. The actions that the British took included the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townsend Acts of 1767, and the Boston Massacre of 1770. While these actions enraged the colonists, what sent them over the edge was the attempt to put a tax on tea. On December 16, 1773, a group of around 7000 of these colonists called the Sons of Liberty, banned together for a political protest against the British government and the East India Company who was in charge of the imported tea. First, a group of these protesters made a failed attempt at trying to make the ships leave the port without unloading it's contents or getting payed for their duty. After this did not work, the group returned to their meeting where it was decided that a larger group of about 200 men, some in Indian disguises, would board the ships and dump 342 chests tea into the harbor waters. After this mission, named the Boston Tea Party, was fulfilled, the British was sure to retaliate.
The Parliament Gathers
Artifact 2: A painting of the British Parliament meeting to create the Coercive Acts.
Source: Ackermann, Rudolf. Rudolf Ackermann 1808. http://www.ushistory.org/us/9g.asp (accessed October 20, 2012)
After the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament was furious at the American colonists. Britain's House of Lords met, which is shown in Ackermann's painting, and ultimately created a sort of punishment for the colonists in the form of several acts called the Coercive Acts, or the "Intolerable Acts".
The Intolerable Acts
Artifact 3: "The Coercive Acts"
Source: The Manhattan Rare Book Company.1050 Second Ave, Gallery 50E
New York, NY 10022 http://www.theworldsgreatbooks.com/intolerableacts.htm (accessed October 20, 2012)
New York, NY 10022 http://www.theworldsgreatbooks.com/intolerableacts.htm (accessed October 20, 2012)
“Now is the time to proceed with firmness and without fear. They will never reform until we take a measure of this kind."
—Lord North in Parliament speaking in favor of the Boston Port Act
“Leave the Americans as they anciently stood, and these distinctions [of rights], born of our unhappy contest, will die along with it. They and we, and their and our ancestors, have been happy under that system...Be content to bind America by laws of trade; you have always done it. Do not burthen them by taxes; you were not used to doing it from the beginning...Your scheme yields no revenue; it yields nothing but discontent, disorder, disobedience.”
—Edmund Burke in Parliament, speaking against the Massachusetts Government Act
The Intolerable Acts were used as a punishment by King George III towards the American colonists after the Boston Tea Party. These acts included the Boston Port Act, the Administration of Justice Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, and the Quebec Act.
The Boston Port Act: became effective on June 1, 1774. This Act said that the port was closed to everything except the British ships.
The Administration of Justice Act: became effective on May 20, 1774. This Act said that the British Officials could not be tried in Colonial courts and would be sent back to Britain for trials of any committed crimes.
The Massachusetts Government Act: became effective on May 20, 1774. This Act gave the British Governor control of all town meetings in Boston.
The Quebec Act: became effective on May 20, 1774. This Act moved Canadian boarders in order to cut off the Western colonies of Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
Source: "A biography of Edmund Burke" (1729-1797)
Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament, predicted that if and when the British passed the Intolerable acts, the American colonists would fight back and create a united front. Unfortunately for King George III, he was right.
Fighting Back
Artifact 5: Drawing of the Colonists taking out their anger on a tax collector.
Source: Colonists sometimes took out their anger over unfair taxes on the tax collector, as depicted in this drawing from 1774. 9g "The Intolerable Acts"
http://www.ushistory.org/us/9g.asp (accessed October 20, 2012)
Colonists began to gather in two groups, the Sons of Liberty and the Daughters of Liberty, to deliberate about the Intolerable Acts. One form of rebellion that came from both groups was boycotting British goods. A more extreme way that the Sons of Liberty found to rebell was to attack the tax collectors or other leaders homes. They would often break their windows or steal their things. Sometimes they even beat or tar and feathered the collectors or simply ran them out of town.
The First Continental Congress
Artifact 6: Painting of the First Continental Congress
Source: Chaplain Jacob Duché leading the first prayer in the First Continental Congress at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, September 1774: mezzotint, 1848.- Granger Collection - artist unknown. "First Continental Congress Painting"
In 1774, every colony except Georgia sent it's chosen representatives to Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress to discuss the Coercive or Intolerable Acts as one united front. They wanted to show the British parliament that they were being treated unfairly and to find a way to change this. They also agreed as a whole that if the British did not change their ways, they would meet again in May of 1775.
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