Intolerable Acts
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BOSTON PORT ACT
MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNMENT ACT
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE ACT
QUARTERING ACT
QUEBEC ACT.
Reasons for the Acts
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Boston Tea Party was the main recipient of four of the acts in 1773. The British Parliament
made Massachusetts an example to turn around the trend of colonial resistance to the
parliament that had had begun with the 1765 Stamp Act. The Quebec Act widened the
boundaries of what was the province of Quebec and made changes that were in favor to the
region’s inhabitants that were French Catholic.
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In retaliation, many colonists who thought that the acts were arbitrary violation of their rights
organized the First Continental Congress in 1774 to organize a protest. As the tension-filled
meetings ensued, the American Revolutionary War was set and broke out the following year.
This led to the creation of the United States of America.
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The Seven Years’ War put a dent on the relationship between the Kingdom of Great Britain and
Thirteen Colonies in 1763. The war put British government in great debt, and in the effect to
increase revenues, the British Parliament increased the revenues of its taxes from the colonies.
The Parliament believed that it was backed up by the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Act
of 1767. This was in terms of legitimacy of letting the colonists pay more taxes to the British
Empire. In effect, the Stamp Act and the Townshend Act were repealed while the Parliament
according to Declaratory Act of 1766 stood its ground in upholding their rights to legislate the
colonies in all cases.
The Acts
 1. This resulted to the Boston Port Act in response to the Boston Tea
Party. This act instigated the closure of the Boston port until the
repayment of the East India Company of destroyed tea and until
order was restored to the king’s satisfaction. This irked the
Colonists to no end due to the fact that all of Boston was punished
for individual acts and the punishment came without any due
process in the courts at all.
 2. The Massachusetts Government Act earned more ire than the
Port Act because it change the Massachusetts’ government
unilaterally so that the British government with have full-control.
The terms of the Massachusetts Government Act will have the
governor or king appoint all the positions in the government. This
act also lessened the occurrence of town meeting in Massachusetts
to once a year unless it was the Governor who was calling for one.
Colonists in neighboring area were afraid that this feud would also
trigger their some changes in their governments.
The Acts
 3. The Administration of Justice Act enabled the transfer of accused royal
officials to another colony. It was even possible that the so-called transfer
will be in Great Britain saying that a just trial will be elusive to him in
Massachusetts. Although it is said in the act that travel expenses will be
shouldered by the government, it was believed to be unnecessary because it
was just an opportunity for the British to harass Americans and run from
the law. George Washington even said that it was the “Murder Act” because
it opened doors for harassment for the British. On their end, other colonies
also believed that justice was served fairly to the British soldiers and set the
Boston Massacre in 1770 was as an example.
 4. The Quartering Act was the kind of act that covered all colonies and
aimed to make a better housing program for the British troops in America.
While in the previous acts the colonies were the ones that provided housing
for the soldiers even if the legislatures were not really cooperative this, the
Quartering Act house soldiers. History would later refute this as a myth
saying that the soldiers were allowed to stay in unoccupied buildings.
The Acts
 5. The Quebec Act was a legislation that was strongly related to the
Coercive Acts because it did not have anything to do with Boston.
Colonies were alarmed with the passage of this acting thinking that
it was for their punishment. The act widened the boundary lines of
the Province of Quebec and established reforms that would benefit
the French Catholic region’s inhabitants.
 However, the Quebec Act denied the people elected legislative
assembly. The oath of allegiance was also free of references to both
the Protestant and Catholic faith. This naturally caused offense in
the British colonies. Objections by the Land speculators and settlers
were mostly about transfer of lands. A lot of people were afraid of
the status of Catholicism in Quebec; there was also a movement to
hire the French Canadians to punish British Americans.