Page 28 - ASM Book 9/2020

22
Parliament Adopted Coercive Acts
1774
• MARCH 31 to JUNE 22 - BRITISH ACTION: Parliament passed a series of acts known
as the Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts in America) in response to the rebellion in Massachusetts.
• MAY 12 - AMERICAN ACTION: In response to the Boston Port Act of the Coercive Acts, Boston citizens held a town meeting and called for a boycott of British imports.
• MAY 13 - BRITISH ACTION: British General Thomas Gage, the new commander of British forces in the colonies, arrived in Boston. He placed Massachusetts under military rule and became Massachusetts’ military governor.
• MAY 17 to 23 - AMERICAN ACTION: Colonists in Providence, New York and Philadelphia called for an intercolonial congress to combat the Coercive Acts.
• SEPTEMBER 1 - BRITISH ACTION: Military Governor General Thomas Gage seized the Massachusetts arsenal of weapons stored at Charlestown.
• SEPTEMBER 5 to OCTOBER 26 - AMERICAN ACTION: The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia with 56 delegates from every colony, except Georgia.
• SEPTEMBER 17 - AMERICAN ACTION: Congress declared its opposition to the Coercive Acts, saying they are “not to be obeyed” and called for the formation of local militias.
• OCTOBER 14 - AMERICAN ACTION: Congress adopted the Declaration and Resolves that expressed opposition to the Coercive Acts, the Quebec Act and other measures that undermined American colonial self-rule. The document asserted the rights of the colonists, including the rights to “life, liberty and property.”
• OCTOBER 20 - AMERICAN ACTION: Congress adopted the Continental Association that called for a boycott of English goods by all citizens and merchants; an embargo on the export of American products to Great Britain; and a termination of the slave trade.
“The die is now cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph . . .
we must not retreat.”
- King George III
Letter to Lord North, 1774