# data[].attributes.body
October 7th (1763)

# data[].attributes.body
May (1763-1766)

# data[].attributes.body
April 5th (1764)
https://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/sugaract.html

# data[].attributes.body
October 7th-25th (1765)

# data[].attributes.body
March 18th (1766)

# data[].attributes.body
November 20th (1767)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townshend_Acts

# data[].attributes.body
March 5th (1770)

# data[].attributes.body
December 16th (1773)

# data[].attributes.body
March 31st (1774)
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/intolerable-acts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In 1774, Great Britain decided to use brute force to deal with the rebellious American colonies, particularly the colony of Massachusetts. Following the blatant insubordination of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, Great Britain aimed to use a heavy hand on the rebellious colony of Massachusetts. In 1774 Parliament passed four acts that they described as the Coercive Acts but quickly became known in America as the Intolerable Acts because they perceived as being so cruel and severe.

Since the end of the French and Indian War, Great Britain had sought to find a way to get the American colonies to pay for the cost of the expensive war. After repeatedly passing laws such as the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and the Tea Act, the colonists had protested, disobeyed, or boycotted to avoid paying the taxes. When a group of Bostonians destroyed hundreds of crates of British tea on December 16, 1773, rather than pay taxes on them, Britain reacted by passing these Coercive Acts.

The first act passed was the Boston Port Act which closed the port of Boston. Britain determined that the business of the city would be stopped entirely until the people of Boston paid for the tea that had been destroyed. This act not only caused fear and panic among many of the city's merchants, it punished the entire city for the actions of the radicals who destroyed the tea. The move also flexed the power of Great Britain, demonstrating their ability to shut down an entire city's port with their navy.

Next, they passed the Massachusetts Government Act which essentially revoked the charter of the royal colony and placed them under the direct control of Great Britain. The British would now exercise complete control over the colony while they limited the number of town meetings that could be held in the colony, effectively removing their capability of self-rule and self-government.

The Administration of Justice Act removed the ability of the colonists to hold trials of British officials in the colonies. Despite the fact that in 1770, the British soldiers who committed the " Boston Massacre " were given a fair trial and acquitted of the charges of murder, this showed the British still did not trust the colonists in administering justice. By having British soldiers sent back to England for trial, many patriots saw this as a way for British officials and soldiers to avoid justice.

Finally, a Quartering Act allowed royal governors, rather than colonial legislatures, to find homes and buildings to quarter or house British soldiers. This applied to all the colonies and only further enraged colonists by having what appeared to be foreign soldiers billeted in American cities.

The Crown had hoped these strict and punitive acts would be used as a punishment for the colony of Massachusetts and as a warning and threat to the other American colonies as well. The hope was that other colonies would soon submit to British authority and resume their place as subordinates to Parliament and the Crown out of fear of similar reprisals.

However, these measures backfired on the British. Other colonies recoiled in horror at what they witnessed. After seeing the power Great Britain leveled on Massachusetts, other colonies quickly became sympathetic with their fellow colonists and began to wonder how much longer it would be before the same type of actions would be done to their own cities or colonies. The other American colonies soon sent aid and supplies to the beleaguered people of Boston.

On top of the fear these acts caused in colonies throughout America, they also forced the colonists to begin asking more important questions. These questions included: where had Great Britain received its authority? And to what degree did they have the right to use such force on the colonies? The word tyranny was used to describe the actions of Parliament and the Crown. Men like George Washington in Virginia would write, "Shall we supinely sit, and see one province after another fall a sacrifice to despotism?"

Throughout the American colonies, in the summer of 1774, days of fasting and prayer were held for the people of Boston. Pamphlets, treatises, and resolves were published across America demonizing the Intolerable Acts and asserting the rights of American colonies to self-government. These harsh acts only seemed to make the colonists more resistant to British rule.

In many of the American colonies, citizens created extra-legal Committees of Correspondence that operated as unofficial governments of people opposed to the laws being passed by the Parliament and royal governors. The colonies became fearful that the British may pass more punitive laws on their own colonies. They decided to form a Continental Congress where representatives from all the American colonies could gather and discuss how they should collectively respond to the Intolerable Acts.

The First Continental Congress convened on September 5, 1774. Men from twelve American colonies (Georgia did not send anyone to the First Continental Congress) gathered in Philadelphia to determine a response. After weeks of discussions, the delegates decided to take a cautious approach and simply boycott British goods and send a petition to King George III begging that the Intolerable Acts be repealed. However, the petition would receive no reply from King George III.

A few months later blood would be spilled outside Boston at Lexington and Concord. The battles there would be the first shots of a bloody war that would last eight years and cost thousands of lives and result in the independence of the United States of America. Clearly the passage of the Intolerable Acts was a key moment in the lead up to this war. The Intolerable Acts were meant to force the rebellious colonies back into place, but the opposite happened and only further fueled the flames of rebellion in North America. What started out as protests over taxes and authority led to the self-realization of Americans that they were not subject to British control, but were indeed, free and independent.

Further Reading

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1774, Great Britain decided to use brute force to deal with the rebellious American colonies, particularly the colony of Massachusetts. Following the...

# data[].attributes.body
September 5th (1774)

# data[].attributes.body
April 19th (1775)

# data[].attributes.body
July 5th (1775)
https://www.historyisfun.org/learn/learning-center/what-was-the-olive-branch-petition/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There was strong support in the Second Continental Congress to reconcile with King George III. Though a few delegates, like John Adams of Massachusetts, did not believe reconciliation with Great Britain was possible, moderates in Congress were able to convince their fellow delegates to attempt one last reconciliation. There was still a widespread belief that the problem was Parliament and an appeal to King George III would resolve those problems. In July 1775, Congress sent a petition to the King seeking a way to end the crisis between the British government and her American colonies. This petition, commonly known as the "Olive Branch Petition", asked the King to find a way to resolve the crisis and offered the King some possible settlement options for his consideration. Though Thomas Jefferson had drafted the first copy of the Olive Branch Petition, his work was redrafted by the moderate John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, as Dickinson found much of Jefferson's draft too inflammatory. The Olive Branch petition noted the union between Great Britain and her colonies excited the envy of other nations. The petition did not suggest a solution to the problem but asked the King's aid to "procure us relief from our afflicting fears and jealousies.....".

The Olive Branch petition was signed on July 8, 1775, and dispatched to Great Britain on two ships. King George III refused to even accept or consider the Olive Branch petition sent by the Continental Congress. Open fighting at Lexington and Concord had empowered the faction within the British government that wanted to deal with any military action by harsh means. The British losses at Bunker Hill in June 1775 were especially stunning; an incredibly high percentage of British soldiers who participated in the battle were either wounded or killed. The death rate among the British officers was especially high. General Howe, the British commander at Bunker Hill, realized how difficult it would be to suppress the Americans after his shocking losses at Bunker Hill and wrote King George III asking for a substantial number of reinforcements and suggesting the possibility of hiring foreign troops.

While George III did not respond to the Olive Branch Petition, he did react to the petition by declaring his own Proclamation of Rebellion. This document, issued August 23, 1775, declared certain elements of the American colonies in a state of "open and avowed rebellion". The Proclamation indicated persons now in open arms and rebellion should be turned over to the government for punishment.

In December 1775, Parliament passed the American Prohibitory Act, prohibiting all British trade with the American colonies. In addition, all American ships and cargoes were to be treated as if they belonged to an enemy power and were subject to seizure. This act was designed to cripple the colonies economically. The Proclamation of Rebellion in August, followed by the American Prohibitory Act in December, was considered by many Americans to be a declaration of war by Parliament against her American colonies.

There were also recent appointments within the British government which reflected the new bellicose position of the government. Lord George Germaine, a strong hardliner opposed to any political compromise of the dispute with the colonies, was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies in November 1775. His appointment marked an increasingly hostile view toward any reconciliation with the colonies until there was a complete submission.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What was the Olive Branch Petition? - History Is Fun

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There was strong support in the Second Continental Congress to reconcile with King George III. Though a few delegates, like John Adams of Massachusetts, did not believe reconciliation with Great Britain was possible, moderates in Congress were able to convince their fellow delegates to attempt one last reconciliation.

# data[].attributes.headline
13) Thomas Paine's Common Sense Published

# data[].attributes.subject
13) Thomas Paine's Common Sense Published

# data[].attributes.body
January 10th (1776)

# data[].attributes.body
July 4th (1776)