Intolerable Acts

Questions for Further Study

• 1. Consider each of the Intolerable Acts. Were any of them justified? Standing alone, would any one act likely have elicited a sense of common purpose among the American colonies sufficient to link their causes with the cause of Massachusetts Bay? Why or why not?
• 2. Compare the Intolerable Acts with earlier instances in which Parliament legislated for the colonies. Were the measures truly unprecedented? If so, what accounts for the dramatic change in British policy? If not, why did the Americans perceive the acts as constitutional innovations?
• 3. What were the enduring lessons of such punitive legislation? Has the U.S. Congress or the British parliament enacted anything similar since 1774?
• 4. What role did the press play in transmitting information about the events surrounding the Intolerable Acts? Was the information communicated accurately?