Intolerable Acts Of Rebellion Dbq Analysis

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Many revolts and acts of rebellion took place during the 1700’s. One of these acts was the Boston Tea Party. This occurred on December 16th, 1773 and consisted of over a hundred Sons of Liberty, dressed as Native Americans, who dumped 342 chests (92,000lbs) worth of tea into the Boston harbor. This resulted in Parliament’s passing of the five Intolerable Acts. These Intolerable Acts were unjustified because there were much better and more fair ways to have dealt with the Boston Tea Party at the time.
One of the five Intolerable Acts unjustifiably put in place by England was the Boston Port Act. Basically cutting of trade in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, there could have been many better alternatives to this Act. The way that Parliament reacted by blocking off Boston’s ports is the same way that a five year old shuts the door when his mother takes away his toys; pointless and just to express their anger. It was a rather harsh and rash decision and practically asked the colonists to “disgrace [themselves] by servilely (submissively) yielding up, in effect, the righteous claims of America...” (Adams Letter to James Warren May 14th, 1774). A very simple and more composed alternative to this would have been them to simply enforce higher security and observation of the port. This would have not only caused less anger among the colonists but hold Parliament as a more respectful figure in their eyes. One of the earlier Intolerable Acts, the Quartering Act of 1765, was created as a result ot the trouble in Boston as well.
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This act was very unjustified as it simply allowed British soldiers to infringe on colonial privacy and utilize civilian homes as barracks. It not only infringed upon their privacy and freedom but did so without consent or notification. Once again this looks bad on Parliament's behalf. No well run government forces military power within civilian space and expects them to be okay with it. The new lodging situations left colonists with less space, less happiness and less privacy. Parliament could have handled this situation better by housing soldiers in tents, spare ships, campgrounds, etc… and yet they chose to inconvenience and enraged the colonists causing more problems for themselves. Despite the fact that the General Assembly said they “beg Leave to assure [the king’s] Excellency that nothing would give [them] a greater Pleasure than to find it in [their] Power to comply with every Requisition tending in any manner to promote His Majesty’s Service” and are obligated to the king, they go on to say that “It is therefore with great Concern that [they] find it impossible to comply with what is now demanded, consistent with [their] Obligations to [their] Constituents [citizens of the colony]” (New York General Assembly 1766). Even the New York Assembly, which addresses the Governor in a loyalist manner, refuses to comply with the unjustified Quartering Act. There is nothing that says that housing British soldiers is justifiable and a good idea or for any government that matter. A final example of the Intolerable Acts would be the Administration of Justice Act. Out of all of the Intolerable Acts this one easily takes the cake for most unjustifiable. This Act “stated that British Officials could not be tried in [colonial] courts…[but] had to be extradited back to Britain

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