The London Magazine, "The
Able Doctor, or America
Swallowing the Bitter Draught”,
May 1, 1774, etching.
Library of Congress
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In 1774, after the Boston Tea Party, the British isolated and punished Boston with four acts, known as the Coercive Acts. These acts closed Boston port until all the tea was paid for, rewrote the colonial charter to increase the power of the royal governor, allowed sending people accused of a crime to be taken away for a trial, and forced people of all colonies to house British Soldiers. The acts badly backfired on the British as it prompted the first Continental Congress, where the colonies threatened to collectively boycott all British goods unless the Intolerable acts were repealed. Eventually, battle broke out at Lexington and Concord outside Boston between colonial militias and British troops a year later in 1775. The continental congress reconvened, began war preparations including
appointing George Washington to command all American troops, and wrote and ratified the Declaration of Independence the following year. |
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