The Intolerable Acts (also called the Coercive Acts) were harsh laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774. They were meant to punish the American colonists for the Boston Tea Party and other protests. Like the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts, the Intolerable Acts pushed the colonists toward war with Great Britain.
In 1767 Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. One of those acts required colonists to pay a tax on tea. In 1773 Parliament passed another unpopular law, the Tea Act. It said that colonists could buy tea from only one British company. Angered by those laws, a group of colonists dumped the company’s tea into Boston Harbor. That event became known as the Boston Tea Party.
After the Tea Party, Parliament passed four punishing acts in 1774. The first law closed Boston Harbor until the colonists paid for the ruined tea. The second law placed Massachusetts under military rule. The third law protected British officials who were accused of crimes in the colonies. The fourth law said that British soldiers could be housed in colonists’ homes. Another law passed in 1774 gave an area of land west of the 13 colonies to Quebec. The colonists called these laws intolerable (unbearable) and coercive (forceful).
The British thought that the strict new laws would bring the colonies under control. Instead, the colonies decided to work together against the British government. They set up the Continental Congress, which issued the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
