- In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, in 1774.
- These acts were designed to punish the Massachusetts colony and to prevent further resistance to British authority.
- The acts included the Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until the colonists paid for the tea that had been destroyed; the Massachusetts Government Act, which reduced the power of the Massachusetts legislature; the Administration of Justice Act, which allowed British officials to be tried in Britain rather than in the colonies; and the Quartering Act, which required colonists to provide housing for British soldiers.
- The Intolerable Acts were widely seen as a violation of the colonists' rights and liberties, and they helped to unite the colonies against British rule.