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Seeds of Revolution
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The Boston Tea Party, as the incident came to be called, infuriated Brit-
ish officials. In 1774, Parliament passed four laws known collectively as
the Coercive Acts. Three of the acts were intended to bring the defiant
Massachusetts colonists to heel. The Boston Port Act closed Boston to all
shipping until Massachusetts paid for the tea that had been destroyed.
The Massachusetts Government Act gave the royal governor authority to
appoint officials who had previously been elected. It also banned townmeet-
ings. The Administration of Government Act allowed the royal governor to
move trials of Massachusetts officials to England, where verdicts the Crown
wanted were more likely. Under the Quartering Act, any colony could be
required to house British troops in inns, barns, or unused buildings.
The harshness of Parliament’s actions stunned Massachusetts citizens.
Patriot leaders convinced most of the colony’s counties to shut down their
courts rather than comply with the new laws. In Suffolk County—which
included Boston—Patriots issued a bold declaration called the Suffolk
Resolves. It denied that Massachusetts was under any obligation to obey
the Coercive Acts. It urged the withholding of tax payments to the colo-
nial government. And, most radically, it proposed the establishment of a
“provincial Congress.” The Resolves said the provincial Congress would
Bostonians dressed as Indians throw crates of tea into Boston Harbor, December 16, 1773. In
response to the Boston Tea Party, the British government closed the port and imposed strict
rules on the Massachusetts colony.
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