The Intolerable Acts was an American label for the laws sponsored by
 Lord North's ministry and enacted by the British Parliament in 1774 in
 response to the Boston Tea Party. Also called the Coercive Acts, they
   were a major factor contributing to the outbreak of the American
 Revolution.

  Prime Minister Lord North introduced the first measure, the Boston
   Port Bill, on March 18, 1774; it passed both houses of Parliament
 without serious opposition and was signed by the King at the end of the
 month. The port of Boston was ordered closed until restitution for the
  tea was made and until royal officials were compensated for personal
    damages; the Massachusetts capital was moved to Salem; and
         Marblehead was made the customs port of entry.

   The North ministry then sought to redress what it considered to be
 defects in the administration of Massachusetts Bay. The Massachusetts
   Bay Regulating Act (May 20) made the Council royally appointed
 rather than elected and made all law officers subject to the governor's
   appointment. The Act increased the governor's patronage powers,
  provided that juries be summoned by sheriffs rather than elected, and
   banned all town meetings not authorized by law or gubernatorial
approval. To restrain the liberty-minded, no town meetings in the colony
could be held without royal approval, and freemen could no longer elect
       juries.

  To secure fair trials for British subjects and to prevent rioting, North
  proposed the Impartial Administration of Justice Act, permitting the
 governor to move trials to other colonies or to England and to call for
aid from the British Army to put down civil disturbances. Both measures
 were introduced on April 15, 1774. Despite strong opposition to these
  acts from Edmund Burke, Isaac Barre, William Pitt (Lord Chatham),
  and the Marquis of Rockingham, they passed Parliament in mid-May
            and were signed by the King on May 20.

 Two acts that were not specifically related to Massachusetts were also
   deemed "intolerable" by Americans. The Quartering Act (June 2)
  authorized civil officers to requisition houses and empty buildings to
 house royal troops where barracks were unavailable or unsuitable. The
  Qubec Act (June 22) granted civil government and religious liberty to
   the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the former French colony and
        extended the Canadian boundary to the Ohio River.

 Although intended primarily to prevent disorder in Massachusetts, the
  Intolerable Acts united Americans in a common cause and led to the
          First Continental Congress.

 Shocked by the defiance of law and the destruction of private property
  in the Boston Tea Party, most factions in Parliament supported King
   George III's fighting speech of March 17, 1774, in which he urged
 coercive action. Either the colonies were subordinate to constituted law
  and authority as vested in crown and Parliament or the empire was
 faced with disintegration and anarchy. Further retreat after the repeal of
 the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 was deemed
       impossible. Assertion of authority appeared essential.