The Coercive Acts, called the "Intolerable Acts" in the
colonies, were a series of acts passed by Parliament in response to the Boston Tea
Party. They were intended to punish the city of Boston and isolate Massachusetts; but
only had the effect of bringing formerly distrustful colonies closer
together.
Among the
acts:
- The Boston Port
Act: Closed the port of Boston effective JUly 1, 1774 until the tea
destroyed during the Tea Party was paid
for. - Act for Impartial Administration of
Justice: Provided that the Royal Governor could transfer the case against
any official charged with a crime while in the conduct of his official duty to England.
Parliament had taken note that colonial juries uniformly refused to convict suspected
smugglers even in the face of overwhelming evidence. The purpose of the act was to
prevent British soldiers from being tried and convicted for technical
offenses. - Second Quartering
Act: Provided for quartering of British soldiers in private homes if
other lodging was not
available. - Massachusetts Government Act:
Made all governmental offices in Massachusetts appointive rather than
elective. Juries would be selected by the local sheriff, and there would be no town
meetings without the Royal Governor's consent. General Thomas Gage was appointed to
replace the then sitting governor, Thomas Hutchinson. The end result was that
Massachusetts was now under military
rule.
Rather than induce cooperation, the Acts
actually brought the colonies closer together. Colonies which had previously been
suspicious of each other collected food and other provisions to be shipped to Boston. On
the day the Boston Port Act was to take effect, Thomas Jefferson called for a day of
prayer and fasting in Virginia. The response by the Virginia Royal Governor was to
dissolve the Assembly. The assemblymen reassembled in a tavern and passed a resolution
calling for a "Continental Congress" to represent all the colonies. This was the first
serious attempt to unite the colonies that had any chance of success. George Washington
was chosen as a delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress. Before leaving, he
wrote to a friend:
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The crisis is arrived when we must assert our
rights, or submit to every imposition that can be heaped upon us, till custom and use
shall make us tame and abject slaves, as the blacks we rule over with such arbitrary
sway.
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