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In response to the Boston Tea Party, in 1774, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts towards the American colonies.
See the fact file below for more information on the Intolerable Acts or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Intolerable Acts worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information

BEFORE THE INTOLERABLE ACTS

On December 16, 1773, a number of American colonists in Mohawk disguise dumped about 342 chests of tea into the harbor, in Boston, Massachusetts as an act of protest.

The act by the colonists was considered to be the first major measure of defiance against British rule. Such resistance began with the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 and Townshend Acts in 1767.

The colonists disagreed with the British sentiment that they should contribute to the payment of war debt. They believed that they should not be taxed without any representation in Parliament.

On March 5, 1770, five colonists were killed and six were injured after a fight between a group of colonists and British soldiers occurred in Boston. For the Americans, the event came to be known as the Boston Massacre.

In response, George III, king of Great Britain eventually repealed the taxes except the tea tax. As a result, the colonists boycotted tea imported by the British East India Company. Instead, they smuggled Dutch tea.

By 1773, the Parliament passed the Tea Act which allowed the East India Company to sell duty-free tea, which was cheaper than any other company.

It is believed that the Sons of Liberty planned the Boston Tea Party, however none of them were caught due to their Native American costumes.

Even after America's independence, their identities were unknown.

NATURE OF THE INTOLERABLE ACTS

The name "Intolerable Acts" was given to the Coercive Acts by American Patriots. They chose this name because the patriots could not "tolerate" the unfair and punitive laws. In Great Britain, the laws were called the Coercive Acts.

The British Government passed the Intolerable Acts as a punishment to the colonies for the Boston Tea Party.

Act 1: The Boston Port Act

This was a specific act that was in direct response to the Boston Tea Party. The objective of the Boston Port Act was to close the port until the colonists had fully paid for the tea they dumped.

The colonists thought it was unfair because it punished all citizens for the crime of a few. The other colonies sent supplies to help the residents of Boston.

Act 2: The Massachusetts Government Act

It changed the government of the Massachusetts colony and gave more power to the governor, while taking power away from the colonists.

The governor was appointed by Great Britain and he was able to appoint his own government officials. This act spread fear across the colonies because if the British could punish Boston, they could do it to all the colonies.

Act 3: The Administration of Justice Act
The governor could move capital trials against government officials to Great Britain. This gave a lot of protection to government officials and witnesses would have travel to Britain if they wanted to testify against an official - making it nearly impossible to convict. The colonists were angered by this act and some called it the "Murder Act" because they thought it would let officials get away with murder.

Act 4: The Quartering Act
Introduced in 1774, was an expansion of the original Quartering Act of 1765. The law stated that colonies were required by law the provide barracks for British soldiers. When barracks were not available, soldiers must be housed in other buildings like barns, hotels, and even colonist homes.

Act 5: The Quebec Act
The fifth of the Intolerable Acts expanded the British Canadian territory into Ohio Valley. The Quebec Province became a Catholic province and it angered a lot of American colonists. The Quebec Act was not in response to the Boston Tea Party, but was passed at the same time.

COLONISTS' RESPONSE

The Intolerable Acts were one of the major events in the American Revolutionary War and actually united the colonies against the British. Many American Patriots spoke out and protested the acts because they believed they took away some of their basic freedoms and human rights.

In September of 1774, the Patriots organized the First Continental Congress to coordinate a protest, and between September and April of 1775, tensions escalated and the American Revolutionary War broke out.

The war lasted more than a year, ending in July 1778 with the declaration of an independent United States of America.

Intolerable Acts Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Intolerable Acts across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Intolerable Acts worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Intolerable Acts. In response to the Boston Tea Party, in 1774, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts towards the American colonies.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

Intolerable Acts Facts

Series of Five

Cause and Effect

Box Out

Famous Patriots

Continental Congresses

Speaking of Pictures

Coercive Acrostics

Mapping the Colonies

Tell A Story

Tolerable or Intolerable

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Link will appear as Intolerable Acts Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, October 16, 2019
Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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Intolerable Acts Worksheets, Facts & Definition For Kids

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Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version Download sample In response to the Boston Tea Party, in 1774, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts towards the American colonies.

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Newsela | The Townshend Acts Taxed Tea, Other Goods, Angering American Colonists

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Angry colonists in America were agitating against onerous taxes and attempts by the British Parliament to control them. In London, Charles Townshend convinced Parliament to push back.

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The Townshend Acts (1767) - Road to Revolution for Kids

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After the uproar caused by the Stamp Act which led to its repeal, the British Parliament still needed money. Plus they wanted to bring the colonists back into line and make sure they knew that Parliament was in charge. What happened next was collectively known as The Townshend Acts.

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Learn about the Townshend Acts from the American Revolution including how they got their name, what the laws did, why the colonists protested them, results, and interesting facts.

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The Townshend Acts were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power. The British sent troops to America to enforce the unpopular new laws, further heightening tensions between Great Britain and the American colonies in the run-up to the American Revolutionary War.

The British Crown emerged victorious from the French and Indian War in 1763, but defending the North American colonies from French expansion had proved tremendously costly to England.

Compared to Great Britain's debts, the cost of the French and Indian War to the colonists had been slight. The colonists-who arguably enjoyed a higher standard of living at the time than their British counterparts-paid less than one-twentieth the taxes of British citizens living in England.

The British government thought the colonists should help pay the cost of their protection. The British Parliament enacted a series of taxes on the colonies for the purpose of raising revenue. Early attempts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765-which taxed colonists for every piece of paper they used-were met with widespread protests in America.

Townshend Duties

The Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the Exchequer, imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported to the colonies.

Benjamin Franklin had informed the British Parliament that the colonies intended to start manufacturing their own goods rather than paying duties on imports. These particular items were chosen for taxation because Townshend thought they would be difficult things for the colonists to produce on their own. He estimated the duties would raise approximately 40,000 pounds, with most of the revenue coming from tea.

While the original intent of the import duties had been to raise revenue, Charles Townshend saw the policies as a way to remodel colonial governments. The Townshend Acts would use the revenue raised by the duties to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges, ensuring the loyalty of America's governmental officials to the British Crown. However, these policies prompted colonists to take action by boycotting British goods.

Charles Townshend didn't live to see the measures enacted. He died suddenly in September 1767, before the detrimental effects of his signature rules could materialize.

Townshend Act Protests

The Townshend duties went into effect on November 20, 1767, close on the heels of the Declaratory Act of 1766, which stated that British Parliament had the same authority to tax the American colonies as they did in Great Britain. By December, two widely circulated documents had united colonists in favor of a boycott of British goods.

These influential pamphlets included "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania," a series of essays written by Pennsylvania legislator John Dickinson and the "Massachusetts Circular Letter," a statement written by Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr. and passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives to other colonial legislatures.

With the help of the Sons of Liberty-a secret society of American business leaders who coined the phrase "taxation without representation"-24 towns in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island agreed to boycott British goods in January 1768.

With the exception of necessities, such as fishing hooks and wire, New England merchants agreed not to import British goods for one year. New York followed suit in April, with an even more restrictive non-importation agreement.

In response to protests and boycotts, the British sent troops to occupy Boston and quell the unrest.

Repeal of the Townshend Acts

By 1769, more than 2,000 British troops had arrived in Boston to restore order-a large number considering only about 16,000 people lived in Boston at the time.

Skirmishes between patriot colonists and British soldiers-as well as colonists loyal to the British Crown-became increasingly common. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers.

Tensions between the colonists and British troops finally boiled over on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers shot into an angry mob, killing five American colonists in an event known as the Boston Massacre.

Little did the colonists or British soldiers know that across the ocean on the same day as the Boston Massacre, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Lord North, had asked Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts.

All of the Townshend Acts-except for the tax on tea-were repealed in April 1770. The tax on tea would remain a flashpoint and a contributing factor to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, in which angry colonists destroyed an entire shipment of tea in Boston Harbor. To quell resistant and punish the colonists-particularly the demonstrators in Boston-Parliament passed The Coercive Acts of 1774, which colonists referred to as the Intolerable Acts. The four Intolerable Acts included the Massachusetts Government Act, instituting an appointed government over the previously-elected, local one; the Boston Port Bill closing Boston Harbor; the Administration of Justice Act, which dictated that British officials could be tried in another colony or in England if charged with capital offenses; and the Quartering Act, which said unoccupied buildings could be used to quarter British troops. The combined force of these acts culminated in the American Revolution, which was kicked off when the " shot heard round the world" was fired on April 19, 1775, at the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

SOURCES

Charles Townshend (1725-1767); The Colonia Williamsburg Foundation.
Townshend Acts; Boston Tea Party Museum.
What we get wrong about taxes and the American Revolution. PBS News Hour. 2016.

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The Townshend Acts were a series of unpopular measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. The laws heightened the tensions between Great Britain and the American colonists and were a precursor to the Revolutionary War.