What Was The Boston Port Act?
The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Boston Port Act in 1774 on 31st March. It came into enforcement on June 1st, 1774.
This was a punitive act created in response to the Boston Tea Party event.
American colonists defined it as one of the 5 bad Intolerable Acts.
| Answer In Short:
Under The Port Act, The Parliament of Great Britain Decided To Close All The Trades, Happened Through Boston Harbor. The Parliament Decided That The Harbor Would Remain Close Until Colonists Pay All The Compensation For The Lost During The Tea Party Unrest. The British Parliament Also Demanded Colonists To Apologize To English King George III For That Sin. All In All, This Was A Humiliating Act For The Colonists; Especially For The People of Boston, Massachusetts. |
Description – What Was The Boston Port Act?
The Boston Tea Party was the event, where on December 16th, 1773, some patriots from the Sons of Liberty destroyed 342 chests of tea.
The British East India Company brought the tea to sell in the 13 North American colonies.
American patriots threw them all at the Boston Harbor, in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean.
Great leader Samuel Adams led the event and participated in 116 patriots caused heavy economic losses to the British company.
Present-day, the value is estimated at around 1 million USD.
Therefore to punish them for the guilt, the British Parliament passed a series of 5 laws in the year 1774.
One of them was this ‘Boston Port Act, passed on the year’s 31st March.
But do you know which were the main rules added in that act?
Ok, I will explain it to you.
As per this new law, the British Parliament decided that all the trades through Boston Harbor would remain close until the colonists pay compensation for the tea party.
Even using the advantage of the new law, they demanded colonists to apologize to the British King George III.
After bringing the law into effect, the British authority hoped that the colonists would be obligated to do what they wanted.
But as they hoped, nothing happened like that.
Contrary, their action turned colonists more become rebellious, later provoked them for the Revolutionary War.
Colonists argued not all people from Boston were involved in that incident (Tea Party). So, imposing the law on everyone’s head was unconstitutional.
They said the British Parliament was hampering their rights of being English citizens, also violating the Bill of Rights 1689.
How The English Authority Prevent Trade Through Boston Port?
To punish Bostonians so hard, the English authority restricted all the trading ships’ movement in that Harbor. No matter what business they were involved with.
On March 7th, 1774, King George III declared that the colonists trying to harm British businesses and violating the English constitution.
From June 1st, when the law came into full enforcement, the Royal Navy was given the duty to petrol regularly that no one can abrogate the rules.
