The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia from September 5 through October 26, 1774 in order to organize a protest following the passage of the Intolerable Acts by the British Parliament.
In 1773, the Sons of Liberty, a secret society of American rebels, dumped a shipload of tea into the Boston Harbor, protesting “taxation without representation.” The following year, two years before the start of the American Revolution, the British responded to the Boston Tea Party by passing what the American Patriots called the Intolerable Acts.
The Intolerable Acts were a series of four legislative acts imposed by Great Britain on the colonies in order to punish them and to quell the rising rebellion.
The acts were composed of
- The Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston
- The Massachusetts Government Act, which required that all Massachusetts government positions be appointed by either the Crown itself, the Governor, or Parliament
- The Administration of Justice Act, which asserted that trials against officials of the Crown were to take place in Great Britain and not in Massachusetts if the Crown believed Massachusetts incapable of executing a fair trial
- The Quartering Act, which allowed Royal soldiers to be housed in unoccupied buildings
