The Pros And Cons Of The Intolerable Acts

The mistake of not making simple reforms, like allowing one representative in parliament per colony would lead to revolts, and even groups coming together. Some revolts were peaceful while others, which affected the tax collectors and stamp sellers, were violent resulting in the tarring and feathering of the British officials. The Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Patrick Henry, were a very radical and overdramatic group, Patrick Henry would make the fateful statement of “Give me liberty or give me death.” On October 7th, 1765 the Stamp act congress would meet there were representatives from 9 of the 13 colonies. The representatives made a decision to boycott British goods. By March of 1776, the Stamp Acts will have been appealed, but the government in England is not happy.

In 1768 an agreement was published by leader’s colonists called Boston Non-Importation Agreement inviting others colonists to react against the Townshend acts, in which American colonists would not export or import items from Great Britain. In the agreement was wrote “Secondly, that we will not send for or import any kind of goods or merchandize from Great Britain, either on our own account, or on commissions, or any otherwise, from the 1st of January 1769 to the 1st of January 1770, except salt, coals, fish-hooks and lines, hemp, and duck bar lead and shot, wool-cards and card-wire.” (Boston Non-Importation Agreement). In addition, a group of women, the Daughters of Liberty were organized a boycott to oppose British taxes by avoiding British tea and buying British goods in support to the Sons of Liberty. Some of the acts were cancel, however, the tea tax results in the Boston Tea Party in 1770. Last, in 1774, the First Continental Congress take place in Philadelphia by colonist’s leaders in reaction of the British tyranny, in which delegates from Massachusetts to Virginia colonies united to agree that “Parliament had no right to tax the colonies without their consent.” (Fraser 132). Indeed, the American colonist’s leaders came together with many protests to the overwhelming British taxations and they rejected British authorities by showing that the government could not claim authority over colonists

In the 1760s and 1770s, Britain, in order to gain revenue from the colonies, passed acts that would later lead to the American desire for independence. These included the Sugar Act, which taxed imported sugar, and the Stamp Act, which required the purchase of specific paper for the use of legal documents. The colonists were outraged, and fought for representation in Britain, but the British argued that they had virtual representation, meaning there were British men supposedly representing the Americans from abroad. In Boston, there was an outbreak of violence as well as the formation of the moderate protest group, the Sons of Liberty. These disliked acts were later repealed and reduced due to fear of the colonists’ movement towards non-importation from Britain,

What the colonists did to respond to the acts is the sons of liberty organized this event called the Boston Tea Party. The sons of liberty went and dressed up as indians and boarded British ships and took them over document 4. The reason that the sons of liberty done this was for one the King was taxing the colonists to death and they didn't want the tax on tea. The colonists though it was unfair to tax

The colonists responded to the Coercive Acts of 1774 with resentment, and the act itself stirred thoughts of rebellion amongst the colonies against the British government(Wood, 47). Indignation towards British rule spread throughout the colonies and led to the eventual formation of the First Continental Congress in September 1774 (Wood, 48). With the exception of Georgia, representatives from 12 out of the 13 colonies convened in Philadelphia to discuss their grievances towards Parliament and the King.

After months of protests Parliament realized their mistake and repealed the tax, but the damage had already been done and the Colonists would start a revolution to separate themselves from the British. On December 16, 1773 the Sons of Liberty, a group of Patriots led by Samuel Adams cut open 340 chests of British East India Company tea, weighing over 92,000 pounds (roughly 46 tons), onboard the Beaver, Dartmouth, and Eleanor and then dumped it into Boston Harbor; a total loss of $1,700,000 dollars in today’s money. Weeks after the ordeal the harbor still had the smell of tea. Until the 340 chest of British Eat India Company tea were paid for the British completely closed off Boston Harbor. The Intolerable act which was meant to punish the actions of the Sons of Liberty. This did not help Colonists’ approval of the British government. The harsh punishments unified the American colonists even more against British rule. The effect the Boston Tea Party had was noteworthy and ultimately sparked the American Revolution which started only two years later in Massachusetts on April 19,

When the Coercive Acts were passed in Massachusetts, Parliament did not think that the other states would care. Nonetheless, when they heard about what had happened in Boston, delegates from all of the states but Georgia met for the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia in September 1774. At the meeting, the delegates discussed alternative forms of government. Joseph Galloway produced a plan for an American government with a president appointed by England and a council elected by the states. Most of the colonists, however, were in favor of the American states governing themselves, with no English intervention. The delegates also founded the Continental Association to prevent anything from being imported from or exported to England. The

The Intolerable Acts, otherwise known as the “Coercive” Acts, caused the most unrest among the colonies and led to the American Revolution during the 1700’s. In 1733, Parliament passed the Tea Act. This made it so that colonists could only buy tea from the British East Indies Company. Even though the Tea Act lowered the price of tea, the colonists thought of it as another restriction of their freedom. A group of opposers, dressed as American Indians, threw three-hundred forty chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British were enraged and passed the Intolerable Acts. This gave the British all control over Massachusetts and forced colonists to pay back the money for the tea they ruined. Although the Coercive Acts only applied to Massachusetts,

King George reacted to the “Boston Tea Party” by imposing “the Intolerable Acts” A core and critical cause of the revolution. Some of “the Intolerable Acts” were as follows: First “the Boston Port Act” which stated that, a complete shutdown of the Boston port to a future time when the Dutch East India Company would’ve been

The British responded to the Boston Tea Party by passing four acts in the same year that were very harsh as punishment for the colonists. The four acts together were called to the Coercive Acts by the British, but the Patriots called them the Intolerable Acts and they consisted of the Boston Port Act, the Quartering Act, the administration of Justice Act, and the Massachusetts Government Act. However, the act that had the largest impact was the Boston Port Act which was the first of the Intolerable acts, passed on March 25, 1774. The Boston Port Act's purpose was to punish and intimidate the colonists by having the British Navy closing off the ports of Boston and Charleston. They didn’t allow ships to bring anything into the port except for

In 1771, group of colonist protested many years of increasing British oppression, by making an attack on merchant ships that were being brought in at Boston Harbor. Due to this, the British then close down the ports, bringing even harsher penalties on the colonies. This famous act of American colonial resistance was to protest taxation without representation that the British were enforcing. British Parliament imported goods with the passage of the Tea Act, many of the colonies denied tea shipments, but the merchants in Boston refused to acknowledge this Patriot revelry. On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty and Samuel Adams; who was a leader

In response to the events of the Boston Tea Party, the British parliament passed a series of laws called the Intolerable (Coercive) Acts in 1774. These Acts were: the ‘Boston Port Act’, closing down all trade of Massachusetts; the ‘Massachusetts Government Act’, Massachusetts was no longer allowed to govern themselves; the ‘Administration of Justice Act’, any person charged with murder while trying to enforce the law would be tried in England; and the ‘Quartering Act’, allowing British troops to be housed in

The rebellion’s successfulness is a product of the results achieved by those taking a stand. In response to the colonists’ defiant actions, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts (Wallace 1). The Intolerable Acts included the Boston Port Act. This bill “shut off the city’s sea trade” (“Boston Tea Party”). This act would hold strong until the colony paid its debt to the British East India Company. The Boston Port Act greatly burdened the colony and resulted with the additional twelve colonies sending supplies to Boston in an effort to provide assistance (“The Intolerable Acts”). The Intolerable Acts also included the Massachusetts Government Act. This act declared the government of the colony to be unfit, unqualified and in need of improvement (“The Intolerable Acts”). This rebellion was the first reaction leading to the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War began

This group consisted of lawyers, merchants, politicians, and artisans who were all there to protest the stamp act. The Sons of Liberty usually relied petitions, public meetings, and pamphlets to rally support, but they would also get violent if necessary. The Stamp Act congress came together in 1765 to repeal the stamp act and deny the Parliament’s of its right to tax the colonies. British merchants who profited form colonial trade joined in the protest, fearing financial ruin. When the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766 people on both sides of the Atlantic rejoiced. While many were busy celebrating they ignored the passage of the Declaratory Act. The Declaratory Act gave the Parliament full power and authority over the colonies. The Declaratory Act also gave the Parliament the right to make laws. The Townshend Acts of 1767 placed import duties on common items such as tea, lead, glass, and dyes for paint. British customs officials used special search warrants called writs of assistance to enforce the law. Writs of assistance were much different than the modern day search warrants, because they did not specify the item sought and specific location to be searched. A customs officer with a writ and a suspicion had the right to search any where he pleased. Colonist hated these writs very much so they stopped housing the British soldiers as the quartering act of 1765 had called them to do. On the evening of March 5, 1770 a crowd of 50 or 60 angry

The Volstead Act was passed along with the Prohibition Act and further abolished liquor which did the exact opposite, intensify the degree of criminality. Sinclair claims that “Although no one was forbidden to buy or drink intoxicating liquor, the Volstead Act, passed by Congress to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment, tried to prevent the illegal trade in liquor” (Sinclair). The Volstead Act also known as the National Prohibition Act promoted the banishment of alcohol trade which was the spring of their finances. This act eventually failed because people were utterly against this prohibition of alcohol and engaged in illegal criminal activity. BBC stated that “It was difficult to enforce the Volstead Act. As gangsters started selling alcohol,