Intolerable Acts


Also known as the Coercive Acts; a series of British measures passed in 1774 and designed to punish the Massachusetts colonists for the Boston Tea Party. For example, one of the laws closed the port of Boston until the colonists paid for the tea that they had destroyed. Although the acts were intended to check colonial opposition to Britain, they only inflamed it.

Words Nearby Intolerable Acts

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

How to use Intolerable Acts in a sentence

  • The Bostonians said they could not, and would not, stand these five laws, which they called the "five Intolerable Acts."

    The Story of the Thirteen Colonies | H. A. (Hlne Adeline) Guerber
  • The Intolerable Acts were described as "impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional."

    The Colonization of North America | Herbert Eugene Bolton
  • The Intolerable Acts went through Parliament with extraordinary celerity.

    History of the United States | Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard
  • To enforce these Intolerable Acts the military arm of the British government was brought into play.

    History of the United States | Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard