All these Boston riots angered the Parliament and the British crown. So to punish them, they passed out the Coercives Acts and to inforce them they sent warships and even more troops.
These were four laws designed to punish Massachusetts and to bring British control over all the colonies.
The Boston Port Act
The Boston Harbor would be closed to all ships until the colonists paid the East India Tea Company for all the tea was destroyed.
Administration of Justice Act
If a British official was accused of a crime in the colonies, he would be sent back to England to face charges there, instead of being tried in the colonies.
Massachusettes Government Act
The colony of Massachusetts was no longer allowed to make its own laws.
Quartering Act
The colonists had to allow British soldiers to live in their homes. They were to be given any access to any building. They could take it over and use it, so colonists had to leave.
Quebec Act
Parliament allowed the colonists to expand the boundries of their holdings farther into Canada.
These acts would last a long time. The harbor closing would keep the fishermen from making a living. There would be no importing, no exporting.
The people of Massachusetts were proud of the self-government they had created, but now they had to put up with the British telling them what to do.
Also sending a British official back to England for trial, was kind of a privilage for the official.
All these act were not to be tolerated by the colonists.
Through the system that the Committe of Correspondance had created, the other colonies soon found out what Massachusttes were going through. So the other colonies gathered supplies and money which were sent to the people in Massachusetts. It's because of this help that Massachusetts was able to survive and defy the British. They still refused to pay back for the lost tea. This lead to the start of a union between the colonies.
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