The Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts, were a series of four laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. The four acts were:
-
Boston Port Act: This act closed the port of Boston until the owners of the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party paid for the damages.
-
Massachusetts Government Act: This act abolished representative government by establishing an all-powerful governor, replacing the elective local council with an appointive one, enhancing the powers of the military governor, and forbidding town meetings without approval.
-
Administration of Justice Act: This act was aimed at protecting British officials charged with capital offenses during law enforcement by allowing them to go to England or another colony for trial.
-
Quartering Act: This act allowed high-ranking military officials to demand better accommodations for troops and to refuse inconvenient locations for quarters. It applied to all of the colonies.
The Quebec Act of 1774 is sometimes included as one of the Coercive Acts, although it was not related to the Boston Tea Party. The law extended the borders of the province of Quebec southward to the Ohio River and established an appointed council to make major decisions for the colony.