What Was The Massachusetts Government Act?

The Parliament of Great Britain passed The Massachusetts Government Act to change the ongoing independent (almost) governance system of the 13 colonies’ Massachusetts province.

The Parliament of Britain passed this law in 1774. It got royal approval on 20th May.

But what was so special in this act?

Actually, this act significantly increased the royally appointed governor’s power in Massachusetts province and abrogated 1691’s, Massachusetts Charter.

Therefore, American colonists included it in the list of the five Intolerable Acts.

What Was The Purpose of the Massachusetts Government Act?

This was one of the five Intolerable Acts of 1774.

They passed it to punish American colonists, especially, Bostonians for the guilt of the Boston Tea Party.

Because after the Boston Tea Party incident, the city transformed into the center of growing unrest of the whole 13 colonies.

British afraid that the unrest would get spread to the other colonies also. And if it would happen, the condition would become critical to control for English authorities.

Therefore to contain it soon within Boston’s land segment, they brought this new act.

Simply the act transferred the power of Massachusetts governance’s from the local leaders to the hand of the British Empire (through royally appointed Governor).

Before the British passed the Massachusetts Government Act, people in the colony enjoyed a special privilege electing its executive council members.

Through the council, local people could participate in their governance system and can elect their civil officers.

All in all, because of this reason, Massachusetts governance’s nature was quite independent of the rest 12 colonies.

But the act abrogated this feature completely. This new act widely increased the power of the royally appointed Governor.

And the Governor now became able to appoint their civil officers and dissolve the locally formed council at any time.

Most importantly, to enforce this law in a much powerful way, Britain appointed their military General as the colony’s new Governor.

How The British Authority Implemented This Law?

In October 1774, English Governor Thomas Gage dissolved the provincial assembly.

Later local leaders of Massachusetts highly criticized this action.

To counter the injustice, local leaders even ignored the dissolution by the English Governor.

After the dissolution, local leaders formed their own government and started controlling everything outside of Boston city.

This government worked till 1780.

Did The British Parliament Repeal Massachusetts Government Act?

Yes, the Parliament of Great Britain had to repeal it in 1778.

But what was the reason for this revocation?

Actually, during this period of time, the Revolutionary War of America’s independence was in peak.

Patriots started getting the upper hand in that war.

On the other hand, in 1778, Britain’s all-time worst enemy France also entered the game.

For all these reasons, the British started realizing that they would soon lose the 13 colonies.

So, to calm the situation down and attract patriots to the table for a proper diplomatic negotiation, they repealed the Massachusetts Government Act in 1778.

However, it made no benefit because it was already too late by now for the English authority.