Intolerable Act

when they heard about the Boston Tea Party.

They decided to punish Massachusetts and to set an example to the rest of the colonies. 

Parliament quickly passed the Coercive Acts of 1774 to force the colonists to accept British authority (leadership).

This act was very harsh on the colonists.

Coercive Acts so much that they nicknamed the new laws the Intolerable Acts. 

Colonists considered the new rules unacceptable and unbearable.

closed Boston Harbor until colonists in Massachusetts paid for the tea they destroyed

ended town meetings in Massachusetts and sent British military to rule Boston

required colonists in all colonies to quarter (house) British soldiers

Outraged, the colonists decided that Parliament had gone too far. There was no way the colonists would allow these actions to continue happening in their towns and colonies!

Patrick Henry concluded that King George III had no intention of taking care of the colonists.

Henry said that a king who wouldn’t pass necessary laws made by elected colonial representatives was a tyrant, a cruel and unreasonable ruler.

The Intolerable Acts were a final straw for many Patriots, including Henry.

Patrick Henry urged Virginia colonists to arm themselves against Great Britain and famously stated, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”