How Did The Improvement Act Influence The Boston Tea Party

In Boston, Massachusetts, the Sons of Liberty protested Parliament's passage of the Tea Act in 1773 by throwing tons of taxed tea into Boston Harbor, an act that came to be known as the Boston Tea Party. News of the event reached England in January 1774. Parliament responded with a series of acts that were intended to punish Boston for this illegal destruction of private property, restore British authority in Massachusetts, and otherwise reform colonial government in America.
-The Boston Port Act, the first of the acts passed in response to the Boston Tea Party, closed the port of Boston until the East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea and until the king was satisfied that order had been restored. Colonists objected that the Port Act punished all of Boston rather than just the individuals who had destroyed the tea,
and that they were being punished without having been given an opportunity to testify in their own defense.
-The Massachusetts Government Act created even more outrage than the Port Act because it unilaterally altered the government of Massachusetts to bring it under control of the British government.
Under the terms of the Government Act, almost all positions in the colonial government were to be appointed by the governor or the king. The act also severely limited the activities of town meetings in Massachusetts. Colonists outside Massachusetts feared that their governments could now also be changed by the legislative fiat of Parliament.
-The Administration of Justice Act allowed the governor to move trials of accused royal officials to another colony or even to Great Britain if he believed the official could not get a fair trial in Massachusetts. Although the act stipulated that witnesses would be paid for their travel expenses, in practice few colonists could afford to leave their work and cross the ocean to testify in a trial. It allowed British officials to harass Americans and then escape justice. Some colonists believed the act was unnecessary because British soldiers had been given a fair trial following the Boston Massacre in
1770.
-The Quartering Act applied to all of the colonies, and sought to create a more effective method of housing British troops in America. The new Quartering Act allowed a governor to house soldiers in other buildings such as uninhabited houses, outlying buildings, and barns, if suitable quarters were not provided. Although many colonists found the Quartering Act objectionable, it generated the least protest of the Coercive Acts.
-The acts unintentionally promoted sympathy for Massachusetts and encouraged colonists from the otherwise diverse colonies to form the First Continental Congress. The Continental Congress created the Continental Association, an agreement to boycott British goods and, if that did not get the Coercive Acts reversed after a year, to stop exporting goods to Great Britain as well. The Congress also pledged to support Massachusetts in case of attack, which meant that all of the colonies would become involved when the American Revolutionary War began at Lexington and Concord.
-First Continental Congress; Sept 1774- 55 delegates met in Phili.
3points; How were they to justify the rights they claimed as American colonies, what were the limits of Parliaments power; and what ere the proper tactics for resisting the Intolerable Acts.
-they agreed that the law of nature, the colonial charters, and the British constitution provided the foundations of American liberties. The declaration of rights limited Parliaments power over Americans. It denied Parliament rights to make laws or tax Col Amer, but they approved the regulation of trade. Col Amer also agreed to cease all trade with Britain until the Intolerable Acts were repealed. –They also suggested that each colony organize a militia- protective /defensive. Also find an arsenal to keep weapons.
The Congress would meet again in May.
The governor of Mass Thomas Gage in june 1774 told Parliament to do something about the rebellion in the colonies.
-The plan was for 700 men to seize the arsenal in Concord and bring the weapons back. The Patriots knew what going to happen.
-On April 17, 1775 the march began at 10ish at night. It took 2x as long as expected and by sunrise they were only halfway there in Lexington. The Brits were met by a small number of Patriots in road and were told to move. Then a shot rang out from someone and they both fired shots at each other.
-1st Battle of Revolutionary War- Pats was outnumbered so let Brits through to Concord where the Pats had more numbers.
By dawn, at Concord hundreds of Minutemen were hiding waited for them to come. Pats fired on Brits and then by noon the Brits were retreating back to Boston.
-The events at Lexington and Concord committed the Colonies to a course of rebellion and independence.
In January 1776, Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, which informed colonials of their identity as a distinct people and their destiny as a nation.