1. The Boston Tea Party

2. On the day of the Boston Massacre, Parliament proposed to repeal (do away with) the Townshend Acts. This act….. –Suspended NY’s assembly (took away NY local government) until New Yorkers agreed to house British troops –taxed imported items such as lead, paper, paint, lead and tea –$ raised from this act would go to pay British governors –Provided writs of assistance (search warrants to search for smuggled goods)

3. One month later, all acts except the tax on tea were repealed. Why? The colonial boycott had hurt Britain economically. Britain lost money. Why keep the tax on tea? To show that Parliament still had the right to tax the colonies.

4. In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act. This act gave the British East India Company a monopoly (complete control) over the tea trade in the colonies. This angered many colonists. One protest resulted in the Boston Tea Party.

5. Boston Tea Party

8. Sons of Liberty protesting taxes by tar and feathering a tax collector

9. To punish the colonists of Massachusetts, Parliament responded to the Boston Tea Party with the Intolerable Acts: –Closed the port of Boston –Banned committees of Correspondence –Allowed Britain to house troops wherever necessary –British officials accused of crimes in the colonies were sent back to England to stand trial –Massachusetts legislature was suspended (no local form of government for the colonists)

10. Intolerable Act

12. To enforce these acts, Britain appointed General Thomas Gage governor of Mass.

13. How did the colonists react to these British actions? They met in Philadelphia and formed the 1 st Continental Congress.