II, were outraged. There was absolutely no way that this display of disobedience by the colonists was going to go unpunished. They had wasted more than 400 cases of tea, and someone was going to have to pay for that destruction of property. In response to the constant insubordination of the colonists, King George III himself approved of measures that were going to force the colonists into submission. As a result of the king's approval, Parliament enacted four new laws and updated an old one. These laws, the Boston Port Bill, the Administration of Justice Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Quebec Act, and the updating of the Quartering Act, [37] were called "coercive" by Parliament, but they would come to be known by the colonists as the Intolerable Acts. The new set of acts, while important in itself, was not as important as the new question that came ringing across the ocean to echo in the halls of Parliament. The colonists were questioning Parliament's very right to tax and rule over them.The Coercive Acts were designed to be just what they came to be called by the colonists - intolerable. It was the intention of Parliament at the time of these acts to force the colonists to obey the laws and pay the taxes that they were avoiding. The first of these laws enacted in 1774 was meant as a direct punishment for the "Boston Tea Party." The Boston Port Bill "was a personal policy of the king who [had] regretted that he had been so easy with the colonies"[38] . Lord North, the Prime Minister at the time, presented this bill to Parliament and they, with the approval of the king, closed all of the ports in Boston and ordered that they remain closed until the repayment for the tea that was at the bottom of the harbor could be made. This act alone would be detrimental to Boston's economy, and therefore Parliament expected compliance with their laws from that day forth. Their expectations however, were not met. In order to regain control i...
