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The Intolerable Acts were a series of 4 acts. The first of which, the Boston Port Act passed at March 30, 1774 was a response to the Boston Tea Party and it dictated that the port of Boston was closed until the East India Company and the King was compensated for the lost tea and taxes. The colonists protested that the Act was affecting the whole city, not the party responsible. The second of these acts was the Massachusetts Government Act, on May 20, 1774, it was designed so that the colonists had less control over themselves. It dictated that the council would no longer be voted for by the colonists and instead its members would be appointed by the king. The third act, Administration of Justice Act,  also ruled at May 20, 1774, stated that the court could be moved upon request by the royal officials if they were charged as being criminals.  This allowed royal criminals to escape trail because the others couldn't make the trip. This was also called the "Murder Act". The fourth act and last, The Quartering Act, allowed soldiers to reside in non military buildings, usually colonist homes.

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The Townshend acts were a serious of acts passed in the beginning in 1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The acts are named after Charles Townshed.  The Townshend acts was till June 15- July 2 1767, in U.S. colonial history series of four acts passed by the British Parliament. The Townshend Acts of 1767  were a series of laws which set new import taxes on British goods including paint, paper, lead, glass and tea and used revenues to maintain British troops in America and to pay the salaries of some Royal officials who were appointed to work in the American colonies.
Source:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Townshend-Acts

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The Declaratory act was in 1766, declaration by the British Parliament that accompanied the repeal of the Stamp act. It stated that the British Parliament's taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britian. The act particularly illustrated British insensitivity to the political maturity that had developed in the American provinces during the 18th century.
Source:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Declaratory-Act-Great-Britain-1766

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The Stamp Act was the first internal tax which forced American Colonists to pay the British on every piece of printed paper used. It was from 1756-1763. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to help pay the costs to the American Frontier. The Parliament voted to stop the Stamp Act in 1766.
http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/stamp-act
https://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchcrsta.cfm
The Stamp Act

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The Tea Act happened in 1773. It was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The Tea Act was supposed to be for reducing the abundance of tea held by the harassed British East India Company. The British East India Company was in London warehouses, which were helping the troubled company survive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Act
http://www.rutgersprep.org/kendall/7thgrade/cycleA_2013-14/03_NC/TeaActNC.html

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The Boston Massacre was the killing of 5 people by the British regulars in a big mob. It happened on March 5, 1770. Blood was everywhere. The Boston Massacre trials ended quickly. The Boston Massacre is a key event  that shocked the colonial public.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/9e.asp
http://www.bostonmassacre.net/

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Why Did the Boston Massacre Happen?

Tensions ran high in Boston in early 1770. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britain's tax laws, like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around the cry, "no taxation without representation."

Skirmishes between colonists and soldiers-and between patriot colonists and colonists loyal to Britain (loyalists)-were increasingly common. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers.

On February 22, a mob of patriots attacked a known loyalist's store. Customs officer Ebenezer Richardson lived near the store and tried to break up the rock-pelting crowd by firing his gun through the window of his home. His gunfire struck and killed an 11-year-old boy named Christopher Seider and further enraged the patriots.

Several days later, a fight broke out between local workers and British soldiers. It ended without serious bloodshed but helped set the stage for the bloody incident yet to come.

Violence Erupts between Colonists and Soldiers

On the frigid, snowy evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White was the only soldier guarding the King's money stored inside the Custom House on King Street. It wasn't long before angry colonists joined him and insulted him and threatened violence.

At some point, White fought back and struck a colonist with his bayonet. In retaliation, the colonists pelted him with snowballs, ice and stones. Bells started ringing throughout the town-usually a warning of fire-sending a mass of male colonists into the streets. As the assault on White continued, he eventually fell and called for reinforcements.

In response to White's plea and fearing mass riots and the loss of the King's money, Captain Thomas Preston arrived on the scene with several soldiers and took up a defensive position in front of the Custom House.

Worried that bloodshed was inevitable, some colonists reportedly pleaded with the soldiers to hold their fire as others dared them to shoot. Preston later reported a colonist told him the protestors planned to "carry off [White] from his post and probably murder him."

The violence escalated, and the colonists struck the soldiers with clubs and sticks. Reports differ of exactly what happened next, but after someone supposedly said the word "fire," a soldier fired his gun, although it's unclear if the discharge was intentional.

Once the first shot rang out, other soldiers opened fire, killing five colonists-including Crispus Attucks, a local dockworker of mixed racial heritage-and wounding six. Among the other casualties of the Boston Massacre was Samuel Gray, a rope maker who was left with a hole the size of a fist in his head. Sailor James Caldwell was hit twice before dying, and Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr were mortally wounded.

Boston Massacre Fueled Anti-British Views

Within hours, Preston and his soldiers were arrested and jailed and the propaganda machine was in full force on both sides of the conflict.

Preston wrote his version of the events from his jail cell for publication, while Sons of Liberty leaders such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams incited colonists to keep fighting the British. As tensions rose, British troops retreated from Boston to Fort William.

Paul Revere encouraged anti-British attitudes by etching a now-famous engraving depicting British soldiers callously murdering American colonists. It showed the British as the instigators though the colonists had started the fight.

It also portrayed the soldiers as vicious men and the colonists as gentlemen. It was later determined that Revere had copied his engraving from one made by Boston artist Henry Pelham.

John Adams Defends the British

It took seven months to arraign Preston and the other soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre and bring them to trial. Ironically, it was American colonist, lawyer and future President of the United States John Adams who defended them.

Adams was no fan of the British but wanted Preston and his men to receive a fair trial. After all, the death penalty was at stake and the colonists didn't want the British to have an excuse to even the score. Certain that impartial jurors were nonexistent in Boston, Adams convinced the judge to seat a jury of non-Bostonians.

During Preston's trial, Adams argued that confusion that night was rampant. Eyewitnesses presented contradictory evidence on whether Preston had ordered his men to fire on the colonists.

But after witness Richard Palmes testified that, "...After the Gun went off I heard the word 'fire!' The Captain and I stood in front about half between the breech and muzzle of the Guns. I don't know who gave the word to fire," Adams argued that reasonable doubt existed; Preston was found not guilty.

The remaining soldiers claimed self-defense and were all found not guilty of murder. Two of them-Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy-were found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on the thumbs as first offenders per English law.

To Adams' and the jury's credit, the British soldiers received a fair trial despite the vitriol felt towards them and their country.

Aftermath of the Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre had a major impact on relations between Britain and the American colonists. It further incensed colonists already weary of British rule and unfair taxation and roused them to fight for independence.

Yet perhaps Preston said it best when he wrote about the conflict and said, "None of them was a hero. The victims were troublemakers who got more than they deserved. The soldiers were professionals...who shouldn't have panicked. The whole thing shouldn't have happened."

Over the next five years, the colonists continued their rebellion and staged the Boston Tea Party, formed the First Continental Congress and defended their militia arsenal at Concord against the redcoats, effectively launching the American Revolution. Today, the city of Boston has a Boston Massacre site marker at the intersection of Congress Street and State Street, a few yards from where the first shots were fired.

Sources

After the Boston Massacre. John Adams Historical Society.
Boston Massacre Trial. National Park Service: National Historical Park of Massachusetts.
Paul Revere's Engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
The Boston Massacre. Bostonian Society Old State House.
The Boston "Massacre." H.S.I. Historical Scene Investigation.

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Boston Massacre: Causes, Date & Facts - HISTORY

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Tensions ran high in Boston in early 1770. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britain's tax laws, like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around the cry, "no taxation without representation."

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On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty, including Samuel Adams, boarded three ships. They were in the Boston harbor. The people in the ships threw 342 chests of tea overboard the ships. This caused the punishing of the Coercive Acts in 1774. As a result, the two sides moved closer to war. http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-tea-party http://www.cr-cath.pvt.k12.ia.us/lasalle/Resources/8th%20Websites%202013/Josh%20Sophia%20Brylie%20Nicole%20Rev%20War/Sophia%20Maher%20Rev.%20War/Boston_Tea_Party.html

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The Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Mohawk or Narragansett Indians representing themselves as Americans and no longer British subjects. They started a riot or a protest with hundreds of other participants. They boarded three of the British ships and they threw 342 cases of tea that had been imported from China, overboard into the Boston harbor.

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Sanjith
http://www.ushistory.org/us/10a.asp

The colonists were very mad after the Sugar Act and Stamp Act. They knew they couldn't fight back against the British if all the colonies are separate. James Otis suggested that the colonies held a conference to decide the course of action the colonies would take. Sadly, only nine of the colonies participated in this protest. The all important Virgina, Georgia, North Carolina, and New Hampshire were not present.

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The American Revenue Act of 1764
Before the Sugar Act in 1764, there was already a law concerning the sugar and molasses, 1733 Sugar and Molasses Act. It charged the customers 6 pence per gallon of molasses. If you wanted to get molasses the illegal way, you would need to pay 1.5 pence as pay to the customs official who allowed the smuggling. The new Sugar Act lowered the tax to 3 pence per gallon hoping that the lower tax would persuade colonists to buy molasses the legal way. The British was wrong that the colonists would be willing to accept the new tax and the smuggling continued until 1766 when the tax was again dropped to only one pence, making it cheaper to pay the tax than to smuggle. The revenues collected amounted to
http://www.stamp-act-history.com/sugar-act/1764-april-5-sugar-act/

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Sanjith
http://www.ushistory.org/us/9a.asp
The Proclamation of 1763 gave all the French settlements to the British. But, the British convinced the colonists to not settle on that land. This was because the British were already having so much trouble controlling the 13 colonies. Moving further West would only make it harder. Also, there were still some French that refused to give up their claims of land or their trade routes. The British were very scared that the pockets of French would start up another conflict against the British. The solution seemed simple. They forbid anyone from going West. The colonists were very mad when this happened.

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Proclamation of 1763 Sa

Quartering Act

Sugar Act An

Stamp Act Am

Stamp Act Congress Sa

Declaratory Act Sw

Townshend Act Sw

Boston Massacre Am

Tea Act L

Boston Tea Party L

Intolerable Acts An