(upbeat jaunty music) [Narrator] Did Britain punish the colonist for the Boston Tea Party?

In 1774, British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, four acts designed to punish the people of Massachusetts for their rebellion.

They closed Boston's ports to all commerce, banned town meetings, and appointed new Crown-approved elected officials, allowed alleged British criminals to be tried in Britain rather than local colonial courts, and ordered colonists to house British troops.

But instead of making an example of Boston, Britain's backlash actually united the colonies against them.

The Intolerable Acts prompted the colonies to organize in Philadelphia and form the First Continental Congress.

This colonial unity culminated during the Second Continental Congress with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on August 2nd, 1776.

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